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Camp Fire Girls Series 


The Camp Fire Girls 
at Lookout Pass 












































































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Betty gave one despairing glance at the approaching callers 
and set off on a run. 



The Camp Fire Girls 

at Lookout Pass 


BY 


MARGARET LOVE SANDERSON 
Author of 

Captain Becky’s Winter Cruise 
Captain Becky’s Masquerade 


Illustrated by Alice Garsey 



The Reilly & Britton Co. 
Chicago 




Copyright, 1917 
by 

The Reilly & Britton Co. 


Made in U. S. A. 


MJG 13 1917 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 


©Cl, A 4 706 13 


CONTENTS 


IAPTER PAGE 

I The Invitation 9 

II An Arrival and a Surprise 18 

III Off to the Catskills 28 

IV The Shadow 39 

V On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 52 

VI Standing by Her Colors 66 

VII A Heart to Heart Talk 78 

VIII Christening the Pass 95 

IX The Gingerbread House 107 

X The Hike to Sunset Rock 118 

XI An Embarrassing Moment 131 

XII An Innocent Trouble Maker 144 

XIII An Interesting Find 152 

XIV A Disquieting Thought 161 

XV Near to Nature's Heart 173 

XVI A Reform that Was Not a Reform 183 

XVII The One Way Out 191 

XVIII An Exciting Ghost Walk 203 

XIX The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito. . 216 

XX Righting a Great Wrong 238 

XXI A Drama Not Down on the Bills 259 

XXII Good-bye to Wanderer's Roost 279 












LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS 


Betty gave one despairing glance at the ap- 
proaching callers and set off on a run 

Frontispiece 1 

“ I never even dreamed it would he like this.” 

Page 122 

“I — I — can *t — read — it, ” she choked. 

‘ ‘ It — isn ’t — for me . 9 9 Page 188 

“ How did you guess that I was Kip Van 
Winkle? ” Page 22? 



s 


The Camp Fire Girls 
at Lookout Pass 

CHAPTER I 

THE INVITATION 

‘ ‘ You must go, go, go away from here, 

On the other side the world you’re overdue ! 
Send the road is clear before you, 

And the old Spring fret comes o’er you, 
And the Red Gods call for you ! ” 

The clear high notes, freighted with a longing 
for the great outdoors of which the singer herself 
was quite unconscious, emanated from a gayly- 
striped hammock, hung between two trees, in 
which reclined a brown-haired girl, her eyes fixed 
dreamily on the distant hills. 

“R-u-th! Ru-u-th!” 

The song came to an abrupt end. The girl un- 
curled her slim length and sprang from the ham- 
mock with a suddenness that set it to rocking 
violently. 


10 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

‘ 1 Coming on wings, mother, ’ ’ rang out the fresh 
young voice. 

Clearing the expanse of green, velvety lawn that 
stretched between her and the fair-haired woman 
in the doorway of the white house, Ruth Gamier 
bounded toward her mother with, ‘ ‘ It’s a letter, 
I know it is! Give it to me this minute, Mum- 
sie! ” 

“ Which hand will you take? ” Mrs. Garnier’s 
arms were folded behind her. She regarded the 
eager, flushed face of her daughter with a tan- 
talizing smile. 

“Both hands, of course,’ ’ bubbled Ruth. 
“ Oh! ” she gave a delighted cry as her mother’s 
right hand, holding two envelopes, was thrust for- 
ward. “ Two letters ! One of them is from Betty, 
and the other is from Emmy. Let’s go into the 
living room and read them. Didn ’t I tell you this 
morning I felt it in my bones that I was due to 
hear from Betty? ” 

By this time Ruth had firmly linked one arm in 
that of her mother and was pulling her gently 
toward the big, cozy living room where the two 
women were wont to spend long pleasant hours 
together, reading, sewing or talking of the things 
that lay nearest their hearts. Ruth adored her 


The Invitation 


11 


pretty, gentle mother, and the comradeship be- 
tween them was perfect. 

“ Sit over there in that big chair, dearest/ ’ she 
now commanded, 6 6 while I curl np at yonr feet 
and read yon the latest news from the girls.’ ’ 

Since the beginning of her vacation Ruth had 
constantly been hearing from the friends of her 
schooldays at Miss Belaire’s Academy for Girls. 
There had been seven of them banded together, 
all Camp Fire Girls, thanks to Ruth’s planning, 
who called themselves the i 1 Seven Savage 
Maidens. ” 

“ Betty’s a dear,” Ruth chirped as she hastily 
tore open an envelope addressed in a large flow- 
ing hand. “ She’s the soul of promptness when 
it comes to letters, even if she doesn’t write long 
ones. Now listen, Mumsie.” Unfolding the single 
sheet of thick white paper she read : 

i 1 Dear Ruth : 

“ You can never guess what I’m going to 
write, so I’ll set it down as fast as I can. I’m 
going to give a house-party, or rather a cot- 
tage party, for the special purpose of behold- 
ing the noble countenances and enjoying the 
exhilarating society of the ‘ Seven Savage 
Maidens,’ and, of course, you are respectfully 


12 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

invited. Father owns a cottage in the Cat- 
skills and I have persuaded him to turn it 
over to me for the summer. I am writing 
seven letters, exactly alike, with the exception 
of names. You know six of those names. The 
seventh name is that of Miss Drexal, who will 
be our chaperon. Will the ‘ Seven Savage 
Maidens ’ be on the scene a week from next 
Tuesday? I hope so. And don’t bother to 
bring a lot of fussy clothes. We are to be 
Camp Fire Girls in the truest sense of the 
word. Even if we do live in a cottage, we can 
leave it behind us and camp in the hills when- 
ever we choose. Now get busy and say your 
fond farewells at home. I shall expect you on 
the great day, and don’t you dare to disap- 
point me. With much love, 

“ Yours as ever, 

“ Betty ” 

The faint suspicion of a shadow darkened Mrs. 
Gamier ’s blue eyes as she listened to the invita- 
tion that was to take her daughter from her again 
so soon after their reunion. She had missed Euth 
sorely during the long year she had spent at 
school. 

4 ‘Oh, Mumsie, may I go?” Buth sprang to 
her feet and slipped two coaxing arms about her 
mother, wrapping her in a jubilant embrace. Then 
she added with generous afterthought, “ Perhaps 


The Invitation 


13 


I ought to stay at home with you. If you think 
so, I'll give up all thought of going.” 

That settled matters, so far as Mrs. Gamier 
was concerned. The thought that Ruth was so 
willing to give up a prospective pleasure for her 
was ineffably dear. It called for sacrifice on 
her part. 

“ Why, yes, I think you may,” she smiled, pass- 
ing a loving hand over the smooth brown head so 
close to her own. ‘ ‘ There ’s only one 1 but, ’ dear 
child. Your friend Betty says ‘ for the summer. ’ 
I’d rather you’d come home by the last of August. 
Then we can have one month together before you 
go back to Hillside.” 

“ Of course I will,” promised Ruth. 1 1 I’d 
never forgive myself if I didn’t spend September 
with you. It’s simply splendid in you to say yes 
the very first thing. I hope all the rest of the 
girls have such glorious mothers as mine. They 
can’t possibly be quite se dear as you, hut they 
will certainly be 1 some ’ mothers if they all say 
yes. ’ ’ 

Mrs. Gamier smiled at this decidedly slangy 
tribute addressed to the mothers of her daugh- 
ter’s friends. The shadow in her eyes had dis- 
appeared. * ‘ If you are to leave me so soon, we 


14 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

shall have to begin preparations at once,” she 
gently reminded. 

“ Oh, I shall take a steamer trunk and a suit- 
case, and that’s really more than I need in the way 
of luggage,” assured Ruth. “I have two com- 
plete Camp Fire suits, and with two white linen 
skirts, plenty of middy blouses, a walking skirt 
and one evening gown, I’ll have a very extensive 
wardrobe. I’m not counting the really necessary 
things, like kimonos and slippers, but I’ll manage 
to squeeze them into that trunk if I have to engage 
the help of my entire family to sit on it and jam 
the lid down.” 

Ruth’s buoyant spirits were rising to an enthu- 
siastic pitch as she planned the prospective out- 
ing. Already she saw herself in her beloved Camp 
Fire regalia, tramping over the mountains or 
idling the summer hours away in company with 
the girls she adored. 

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world! ” she ex- 
claimed, hopping about in excitement. ‘ i Oh, no, 
I forgot. There are six others as lucky as I. That 
is, if all the girls respond to the call. I wonder 
if — Why, I’m forgetting to read you Emmy’s 
letter! ” 

Ruth again plumped down on the floor at her 


The Invitation 


15 


mother’s feet and was soon deep in the reading 
of the long but highly interesting letter from 
Emmeline Cerrito, her roommate at Miss Bel- 
aire’s. 

It soon became patent to her that Emmy, as her 
friends delighted to name her, had not yet rev 
ceived the great news. She was at Newport with 
her father and mother, and although staying at 
one of the great hotels for which the resort is 
famous, and surrounded by every luxury, she con- 
fessed herself bored and not particularly inter- 
ested in the gay social whirl of which she formed 
a part. 

“I am tired of hops and society,’ ’ she 
wrote. “ Being a Camp Fire Girl has spoiled 
me, I’m afraid. I wish you would make me 
a visit. I am sure we could think up some- 
thing more interesting to do than just dress- 
ing and dancing and playing golf and tennis. 
Have you heard from any of the girls lately? 
They owe me letters, every one of them. Do 
be a dear, and write me yards and yards. 
Your letter will be read and reread and cher- 
ished. I’ll give you a Camp Fire honor bead 
as a life-saver if I ever get into the high posi- 
tion of bead distributor. Now don’t lay this 
letter aside to answer to-morrow or on some 
other convenient day. Answer it now, and 


16 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

receive the eternal gratitude of your languish- 
ing roommate, Emmy ” 

“ Doesn’t she write cleverly? ” cried Ruth 
admiringly. “ I just love her letters. Maybe there 
won’t he a surprised Emmy, though, when Betty’s 
letter strikes Newport! I never told you much 
about Emmy, Mumsie, except that she is beauti- 
ful. She has the loveliest soft black hair and 
white skin and great big dark eyes. She is French 
and has traveled all over the world. She used to 
live in Nicaragua, and before she came to Hillside 
we all thought she would be dark and swarthy, 
like many of those Central Americans who come 
to the United States to be educated. We weren’t 
even sure of how much English she knew. You 
can imagine how surprised we were when we saw 
her and heard her talk and found that she was 
really a very distinguished person. She has 
promised over and over again to make me a visit. 
May I bring her home with me when the house- 
party breaks up? That is, if she hasn’t made 
other plans for September.” 

“ I should be glad to have her come home with 
you,” assented Mrs. Gamier. “ You know I am 
always interested in your friends.” 

‘ i Then that’s another cause for happiness,” 


The Invitation 


17 


exulted Ruth. “When I answer Emmy’s letter 
I shall invite her. She must have received Betty’s 
letter by this time. I won’t mention the house- 
party, though, when I write. I might accidentally 
spoil Betty’s surprise by telling the news ahead 
of her.” 

Ruth rose from the floor. With a gay, “ Excuse 
me, dear, I’ll see you later,” she hurried upstairs 
to her room to busy herself with the delightful 
task of accepting Betty’s invitation and rescuing 
the languishing Emmy from the depths of bore- 
dom. 

Still smiling at the eager enthusiasm of her 
daughter, Mrs. Garnier turned her attention to 
her own mail, which had lain neglected, for the 
moment, on the library table. It consisted of 
three letters and a magazine. Two of the letters 
were from distant friends; the handwriting on 
the third envelope, however, she did not recognize. 
She scanned it with slightly puzzled eyes, then 
opened it and extracted its contents. As she read, 
her face fell into lines of decided consternation. 

“Poor Ruth,” she murmured, “this will be a 
surprise to her, and not a very pleasant one, I’m 
afraid.” 


CHAPTER II 


AN ARRIVAL AND A SURPRISE 

But while Mrs. Gamier sat staring at the irreg- 
ular back-handed writing which was to bring her 
daughter from her height of jubilation with a sud- 
den jolt, Ruth’s fountain pen was fairly flying 
over pages of creamy notepaper in a joyful accept- 
ance of Betty Wyndliam’s invitation. 

Stepping into the hall, Mrs. Gamier paused at 
the foot of the open stairway and called, “ Ruth, 
Ruth ! Come down here ! 9 7 

The sound of an opening door, followed by a 
patter of light feet on the stairs, proclaimed the 
fact that Ruth was hastening to obey the sum- 
mons. 

‘ ‘What is it, Mumsie % 77 she queried brightly. 
Lowering her voice she said almost in a whisper, 
“ Not callers, I hope! ” Her alert eyes glimpsed 
the open letter in her mother’s hand. “Nor bad 
news, either,” she added, a trifle anxiously. 

“It is your turn to listen to a letter, Ruth,” 
began her mother gravely , 1 1 and I am afraid you 
won’t like to hear it. Perhaps you had better 
18 


An Arrival and a Surprise 19 

read it yourself.” Mrs. Gamier tendered Ruth 
the disturbing sheet of paper. 

There was a brief interval of silence as the 
girl hastily scanned it. 

“Oh!” she exclaimed, throwing the offending 
bit of paper to the floor with a sudden gust of 
anger. “It’s too dreadful! ” The brightness of 
her face was darkly overcast with clouds of dis- 
appointment. Her lips quivered ominously. 1 ‘ I 
— I — think it is the — meanest thing — I ever — ■ 
heard of! ” she faltered. “All my lovely plans 
are spoiled. Now I’ll have to stay at home and 
entertain this horrible girl, just because she hap- 
pens to be my cousin. I won’t do it! You must 
write her, Mumsie, and tell her she’ll just have 
to go somewhere else for the summer. I won’t 
miss my trip to please someone I’ve never seen 
and don’t care to see ! I won’t ! So there ! ” 

Mrs. Gamier listened in distressed silence to 
this vehement outburst. She felt that she could 
hardly blame Ruth for it. The letter which had 
prompted the storm came from Marian Selby, the 
daughter of a sister who had died over a year 
ago. At one time, Mrs. Gamier had invited the 
orphaned girl to make them a visit; after this 
long wait, she had accepted. She would arrive on 


20 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

the following Friday, she stated, on the four 
o’clock train, and hoped that some one of the 
family would meet her at the station. 

“ Please, please , Mumsie, won’t you write her 
and tell her to stay out in Missouri Where she 
belongs?” pleaded Ruth desperately. 

“ But, my dear, how can I? Marian says that 
she will arrive Friday. That’s to-morrow. ” 

Ruth’s pretty brown eyes filled with angry 
tears. “ 1 won’t go to the train to meet her,” 
was her passionate declaration. “ Just from her 
stiff, back-handed writing I know she must be 
short, fat, homely, and a regular goody-goody.” 

“ Don’t run out to meet calamity,” counseled 
Mrs. Gamier. 4 1 Although it is years since last I 
saw Marian, I remember her as a thin, brown-eyed 
little girl, very quiet and unobtrusive.” 

“It is quite evident that she has changed,” 
sneered Ruth. i 6 There is nothing particularly 
unobtrusive in her calm manner of poking her- 
self in where she isn’t wanted. It is ill-bred and 
inconsiderate, to say the least.” 

Ruth was well aware that her bitter words 
were not in accordance with Camp Fire ethics. 
But, mastered by her anger, she could not refrain 
from speaking her mind. 


An Arrival and a Surprise 21 

“Ruth Gamier, I am astonished ! ’ ’ Her 
mother’s pleasant face grew very stern. “ I can- 
not allow you to speak so sneeringly of your 
cousin. Remember, she is to be our invited guest 
and must therefore receive every consideration. 
I shall not force you to accompany me to the train, 
but I shall be greatly displeased if you do not. 
You had better go to your room and think mat- 
ters over quietly.” She made a gesture of dis- 
missal. 

Ruth turned away without further words and 
stamped gloomily up the stairs to her room. The 
tears which she had bravely winked back now 
trickled slowly down her smooth cheeks. Closing 
her door with a bang, she walked to her desk and 
picked up the letter she had so gleefully begun. 
Tearing it to bits, she sat down heavily in her 
desk chair and leaning her head on her arms wept 
her disappointment. 

Unlike her usual cheerful self, Ruth spent the 
entire afternoon in her room, moping in solitary 
misery and nursing her grievances. She was still 
determined not to go to the train. She would 
treat the girl civilly, but she would never forgive 
her for coming, and she would soon manage to 
let her know it. 


22 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Obsessed with the desire for sympathy, she 
poured forth her woes on many sheets of paper, 
in a new letter to Betty, and when she had sealed 
the fateful letter and sulkily added an extra stamp 
by reason of its weight, she felt better. Then 
she answered Emmy’s letter, writing nothing per- 
taining to the house-party or to Marian’s visit. 
She had said her say to Betty. 

When she opened her eyes the next morning 
to greet the flood of sunshine that poured in at 
her windows, Ruth forgot for an instant the clouds 
of the previous day. Dark remembrance choked 
the snatch of gay song that welled to her lips 
as she prepared to dress. The fullness of yester- 
day’s disagreeable surprise, that had followed so 
swiftly on the heels of her joy, returned with 
new force. 

All day she communed sulkily within herself as 
to whether or not she would accompany her 
mother to the station. Mrs. Gamier, realizing 
the depth of Ruth’s disappointment, made no 
effort to discover what was going on behind her 
daughter’s unusually sober face. She had a feel- 
ing that when the time came Ruth would not fail 
her, but until then she wisely decided to hold her 
peace. 


An Arrival and a Surprise 23 

It was precisely half past three when a solemn- 
faced Ruth appeared in her mother's room, where 
the latter was putting the finishing touches to 
her toilet, with the brief utterance, “ I 'm ready. ' ' 

“ Very well, dear.” Mrs. Gamier did not turn 
from the mirror, before which she stood adjusting 
her hat. “Iam almost ready, too. I told James 
to bring the car to the door at a quarter to four. 
That will give us plenty of time to reach the 
station before Marian's train is due.'' 

Ruth made no answer. Turning slowly, she 
went downstairs to the veranda, there to await 
her mother's coming. She was wearing a dainty 
gown of French organdie and a rose-covered pic- 
ture hat, and despite her sober air looked the in- 
carnation of sweet, fresh girlhood. But her mind 
was not on her appearance. She had donned the 
pretty frock, which ordinarily gave her a thrill of 
pleasure, with more than one impatient jerk, and 
had jammed the picture hat upon her brown head 
with a vehemence that had set the roses on it 
nodding a mute protest. 

Onc6 seated beside her mother in the tonneau of 
the big gray car, Ruth had nothing to say, and 
fhe short distance to the station was covered in 
almost absolute silence. Several times during the 


24 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

drive Mrs. Gamier bowed to passing friends and 
acquaintances, but Ruth stared ahead of her with 
mutinous lips and unseeing eyes. They alighted 
from the automobile in the driveway behind the 
station, and leaving James at the wheel, strolled 
across the bit of lawn, up the steps and out upon 
the station platform. It was sparsely peopled, 
for the town of Burton, in which the Garniers 
lived, was a quiet little place, and doubly so in 
summer when many of its residents sought the 
seashore or the mountains early in the season to 
remain away until September. As leading banker 
of Burton, John Gamier ’s home was among the 
most attractive in the town, and it was in response 
to Ruth’s fervent declaration that “ home is 
best ” that her father and mother had decided 
to forego their usual summer pilgrimage to the 
seashore and give their daughter the full ben- 
efit of spending her vacation in the home nest. 

Ruth had been thinking of this as they bowled 
along toward the station, and a wave of sudden 
contrition swept over her as she remembered her 
mother’s unselfish acquiescence to her plea that 
she be allowed to make one of Betty’s house-party. 
How selfish she had been ! Her father and mother 
had cheerfully given up their outing to please her, 


An Arrival and a Surprise 


25 


and directly afterward she had repaid them by 
begging to leave them. She felt that she deserved 
this dreadful hitch in her selfish plan. Now she 
remorsefully decided to brace up and make the 
best of things. 

As they stepped out upon the station platform, 
Mrs. Gamier felt a penitent hand slip into hers. 
“ I’m sorry — I — was — so horrid, Mumsie. I’m 
a selfish girl, but truly I’ll try to like Marian, 
just for your sake.” 

“Now I have my own dear little girl again,” 
smiled Mrs. Gamier, her affectionate gaze bent 
on Ruth’s earnest face. “ I was sure you would 
see things in a happier light. After all, it may 
not be so bad. You may find in Marian a friend 
and companion.” 

Ruth could not quite bring herself to agree with 
this. She had formed decided ideas of her cousin. 

“ I ’ll see if the train is on time, ’ ’ she volun- 
teered, turning toward the bulletin blackboard 
that hung on the station wall. 

A sharp, shrill whistle diverted her attention, 
causing her to peer anxiously up the expanse of 
shining rails. The train was just rounding the 
curve and bearing down upon them like a huge 
black monster. 


26 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“It's on time! ” she exclaimed ruefully. Then 
with a disconsolate sigh she straightened her 
sturdy shoulders for what was to come. 

The vociferous clanging of hells and creaking 
of ponderous iron wheels, as the train came to a 
groaning stop, proclaimed the arrival of the un- 
welcome guest. Ruth’s alert eyes darted up and 
down the line of coaches in an effort to locate 
the Marian of her distressed imagination. She 
had dreamed of her as short, fat and homely, but 
she could discover no such person. To be sure 
a very stout, red-faced woman clambered down 
the steps and waddled toward the station, but she 
had gray hair. Farther up another woman was 
advancing, marshalling two children ahead of her. 
Several men with suit cases ran briskly down the 
steps of the various coaches and went their sep- 
arate ways. Far up the platform Ruth saw a sol- 
itary girl emerging from the train, but she was 
tall and slender to thinness. As she came for- 
ward Ruth noted that she had a pleasant, bright 
face and walked with an air of self-possession that 
was almost distinguished. 

“ I don’t think Marian is on this train, Mum- 
sie.” Ruth’s gaze left the tall stranger, as she 
turned to her mother with a feeling of relief. She 


An Arrival and a Surprise 


27 


could not help being just a trifle glad over the 
nonappearance of her cousin. 

“ Pardon me, but isn’t this Aunt Laura? ” A 
good-humored voice, with a faint drawling accent, 
caused Ruth to whirl about. Confronting her 
mother, with outstretched hand, stood the tall girl. 

“ And is this Marian? My dear, I would never 
have known you,” was Mrs. Gamier ’s surprised 
cry. 

Ruth regarded the girl with blank amazement. 
Where, oh where, was the short, fat Marian of her 
dreams? Suddenly her astonishment deepened. 
Could she believe the evidence of her own eyes? 
On her cousin’s long, slender wrist was a token 
that she could not mistake. It was a bracelet, and 
it stood for but one thing. The unbelievable had 
come to pass. The despised Cousin Marian was 
a Camp Fire Girl ! 


CHAPTER III 


OFF TO THE CATSKILLS 

“ Girls, are you sure you haven’t forgotten any- 
thing? Think hard. This is your last chance. 
The car will be at the door directly.” Mrs. Gar- 
nier surveyed two luggage-laden young women 
who were descending the broad stairway, an 
anxious pucker appearing between her usually 
placid brows. 

“ Of course we’ve forgotten something, Mum- 
sie,” was Ruth’s calm assurance. ‘ ‘ It’s very 
likely to be something really important, too. And 
you ma y r be sure we shan’t remember it until we 
are miles away from here. Did you ever hear of 
two girls starting on a journey with every single 
thing they planned to take with them? Why, 
when I came home from Hillside I found, after 
my trunk had gone, that I had packed every last 
shoe I owned, except a pair of tennis shoes I hap- 
pened to be wearing. So I had to wear them home, 
and I felt too foolish for words.” Ruth giggled 
at the recollection. 

“ I’m a prize forgetter, too,” drawled Marian 
28 


Off to the Catskills 


29 


Selby. “ The morning I started for Burton I laid 
my handbag in the tray of my trunk and calmly 
locked it in. I hunted high and low for it, and 
never remembered where it was until my trunk 
had gone. I had to go to the baggage room at 
the station to get it, and maybe the baggage mas- 
ter wasn’t cross! ” 

“ After these confessions I can safely prophecy 
that in about three days from now I shall receive 
frantic appeals from both of you regarding numer- 
ous valuables you have left behind,” smiled Mrs. 
Gamier. 

A little more than a week had elapsed since Ruth 
and her mother had driven to the station to meet 
Marian Selby. In that brief space of time a num- 
ber of things had happened. Following her 
astounding discovery that the dreaded guest was 
a Camp Fire Girl, Ruth had found reason speedily 
to change her pessimistic views regarding the dis- 
turber of her plans. To begin with, Marian was 
so exactly the opposite of the unflattering picture 
Ruth had drawn of her, that she experienced more 
than one secret pang of contrition for her hastily- 
formed conclusion. Marian daily proved herself 
to be an ideal guest, and her cheery way of look- 
ing at life, coupled with an unusually keen sense 


30 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

of humor, was a constant source of amusement 
and delight to the Garniers. 

Privately, Ruth had greatly deplored the long 
letter, permeated with the bitterness of her dis- 
appointment, which she had written to Betty 
Wyndham. She awaited Betty ’s answer with con- 
siderable trepidation, and, when finally it arrived, 
she locked herself in her room, almost unwilling 
to read it. After she had read as far as the third 
page, her heavy self-reproach suddenly took wing. 
Glancing hastily through the remainder of it, she 
rushed downstairs to the living room where her 
cousin sat reading and proceeded to do a jubilant 
dance about the amazed Marian. 

Determined that Ruth must make one of her 
house-party, Betty had graciously proposed that 
Marian should accompany her to the Catskills, 
assuring her that there would be plenty of room 
in the cottage for another girl. 

When the excited girl had extended Betty ’s invi- 
tation to Marian, the latter had gently declined 
it, but had urged Ruth to accept, stating simply 
that she was quite content to remain quietly with 
Mr. and Mrs. Gamier. This in itself was suffi- 
cient to cause Ruth to make an energetic onslaught 
upon her cousin’s mild objections. In the end, 


Off to the Catskills 


31 


Marian had been won over, and the two girls had 
made haste to interview Mrs. Gamier and obtain 
the seal of her approval. Several busy happy 
days of planning and preparation had followed, 
with the result that on this sunny Monday morn- 
ing two thoroughly congenial and highly excited 
Camp Fire comrades were prepared to take the 
long trail to the mountains. 

More than once during the ride to the station 
Ruth smiled to herself as she recalled the gloomy 
state of mind in which she had approached that 
very spot, a little over a week before, to meet 
the girl she had condemned without a hearing. 

It was to be rather a long journey across the 
country, and, as they would he obliged to spend 
one night on the train, Mr. Gamier had tel- 
egraphed for sleeping-car accommodations. Once 
in New York they were to go directly to the Grand 
Central Station, there to entrain for Haines Falls, 
where Betty was to meet them. The Wyndham’s 
cottage was situated in the very heart of the Cat- 
skills, Betty had stated in her letter, but aside 
from this vague information neither Ruth nor 
Marian had the slightest idea of the territory into 
which they were going. Therefore both girls were 
filled with the pleasant sensation of adventurers 


32 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

who were about to set foot in an undiscovered 
land. 

“ Oh, dear,” sighed Ruth as she followed her 
mother out of the automobile at the station yard, 
“I am positively torn between being sorry to 
leave you, Mumsie, and glad because Pm going 
on such a wonderful trip.” 

“ You mustn’t think of me, my dear,” was her 
mother’s generous counsel. “ You know I am not 
only willing but anxious for you to have this pleas- 
ure. If you don’t smile your very brightest when 
you say good-bye to me, I shall be sad after you 
have left me.” 

“ You’re the most unselfish mother in the 
world ! ’ ’ exclaimed Ruth impulsively, ‘ 1 and you 
mustn’t dare to talk of being sad after we have 
gone. I’ll think of you every minute I’m away 
and write you two letters a day. ’ ’ 

“If I receive two letters a week from you I 
shall consider myself lucky,” commented her 
mother slyly. Ruth’s lapses in the matter of 
prompt correspondence were a subject for jest in 
the Gamier family. 

“ Now, Mumsie, you know my intentions are 
good,” defended Ruth. ‘ 4 I’ll write you a little 
every day, see if I don’t.” 


Off to the Catskills 


33 


“ If Ruth is too busy, I’ll volunteer to be a faith- 
ful scribe, ’ ’ promised Marian. 4 4 Between the two 
of us, you stand a fair chance of receiving a daily 
bulletin of who’s who and what’s what in the Cat- 
skills.” ' 

“ After such lavish promises I shall be deeply 
disappointed if the postman doesn’t stop at every 
round,” asserted Mrs. Gamier brightly. Then, 
her face suddenly sobered, she said, 4 4 I’m not 
going to send my girls away with a lecture, but I 
am going to ask you to take the best possible 
care of yourselves and do nothing that will expose 
you to criticism or danger. Look before you leap, 
and don ’t leap unless you are very sure where you 
are going to land. That’s all. If you will remem- 
ber that, then you can be safely trusted to go 
almost anywhere. Of course, I have a great deal 
of confidence in Miss Drexal; still, it rests largely 
with you whether you are going to prove your- 
selves genuine Camp Fire Girls.” 

44 I’ll be as wise as — as an owl and as careful 
as can be, Mumsie. I promise.” Ruth wagged 
her brown head with emphatic earnestness. 

4 4 We solemnly promise not to get lost in the 
woods, tumble down mountains, speak to 
strangers, go canoeing down waterfalls or eat 


34 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

anything likely to disagree with us,’ ’ was Marian’s 
humorous enumeration. “I think I’ve covered 
at least all the most important of the possible 
disasters.” 

“ Camp Fire Girls are naturally supposed to be 
ready to meet emergencies, yet he careful as well 
as brave,” said Ruth proudly. “ That’s a part of 
their business.” 

“ I am sure I can trust you both to do the right 
thing at the right moment,” was Mrs. Gamier ’s 
fond assurance. 

The arrival of the train which was to bear the 
travelers east put an end to the little talk. There 
was time only for affectionate farewells, then 
Marian and Ruth, disdaining the porter’s assist- 
ance, hurried up the Pullman car steps and into 
the train. A moment and Ruth had raised the 
window, which for a wonder did not stick. She 
leaned far out, nodding and smiling to her mother. 
Marian peered anxiously over Ruth’s shoulder for 
a last glimpse of the gracious figure on the plat- 
form. 

“ Good-bye! Good-bye!” called two fresh 
young voices. Then the train began to move. Ruth 
continued to lean out the window as they left the 
station behind them, her handkerchief fluttering 


Off to the Catskills 


35 


a white signal of farewell. When at last she 
settled back in her chair, there was a suspicious 
mist in her brown eyes. It was all very well to 
be going on a wonderful adventure into the un- 
known ; nevertheless it hurt to say good-bye to her 
mother. 

For at least five minutes there was silence be- 
tween the two girls. Ruth’s heart was with the 
dear one left behind, while Marian’s mind reverted 
to her own mother, to whom only a year ago she 
had said an eternal farewell. 

( 1 Saying good-bye is terribly hard.” It was 
Ruth who at last broke the spell. 

‘ * I know it, ’ ’ returned Marian briefly. Her 
face held a pathetic expression that made Ruth 
remark hastily : 

* 1 Just think, though, what a good time we 
are going to have and how soon we’ll be back 
home again. It isn’t as though we were going 
away for a whole year.” 

Marian brightened visibly. “ Do you know, 
Ruth, I feel just as though your house were really 
my home, even though I’ve only lived in it a little 
over a week.” 

“Of course it’s your home,” returned Ruth 
quickly. “You are to stay with us as long as 


36 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

you like, and I’ll give you half of my father and 
mother for your very own.” 

Unluckily Ruth’s impulsive speech brought a 
return of the somber look that she had endeav- 
ored, the moment before, to dispel from her 
cousin’s face. Quick to note it she racked her 
brain for a remedy. Suddenly she giggled out- 
right. 

‘ 4 Marian,” she began, her face dimpling mis- 
chievously, 4 ‘I’ve a confession to make.” Then 
she plunged into an extremely frank account of 
that memorable morning when she had rebelled 
so bitterly against her cousin’s coming, and of 
the altogether incorrect impression she had 
formed regarding her. Of her letter to Betty 
Wyndham she said nothing. She had already rec- 
tified that error with a second letter to Betty of 
a distinctly different tone. “ Wasn’t I the big- 
gest goose ever?” she laughingly concluded. 
“ Never again, as long as I live, will I form an 
impression of anyone before seeing the person. 
It’s a waste of valuable time.” 

As Ruth had confidently hoped, Marian was 
vastly amused at the confession and not in the 
least offended. Better still, the somber light in 
her eyes had vanished, and as the train rushed on 


Off to the Catskills 


37 


past sleepy villages, long stretches of farm land, 
dingy smoke-blackened towns and picturesque bits 
of forest, the two girls continued to talk happily 
on of the many interests common to carefree young 
womanhood. 

Ruth was enthusiastic in her descriptions of the 
girls who were to make up the house-party. She 
dwelt particularly, however, on her roommate at 
school, Emmeline Cerrito. “ She is so beautiful 
that you will simply adore her,” she declared, 
“ and she isn’t a bit conceited over herself and 
her wonderful voice. Speaking of wrong impres- 
sions makes me remember what a ridiculous idea 
some of us had about Emmy. Really it was awful. 
You see she didn’t put in an appearance at Miss 
Belaire’s for quite a while after we came. As 
she was to he my roommate, I was very curious 
about her. We knew she was from Nicaragua, 
and we couldn’t help wondering whether she would 
be as white as the rest of us. Sometimes those 
Latin-Americans are — well — quite dark. When 
you see her you will understand why she surprised 
us. For a while I thought I’d never learn to 
know her, but later on we became* the best of 
friends. She didn’t take kindly to the Camp Fire 
idea, though, and didn’t really join until almost 


38 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

the end of the year. I am anxious for you to know 
each other. You are so clever and say such funny 
things that she will surely appreciate you. She 
doesn’t know about you yet, unless Betty has writ- 
ten her that I am going to bring you along. I 
answered Emmy’s letter before you came and I 
didn’t mention Betty’s invitation, for I was afraid 
of giving out the good news too soon and spoiling 
things for Betty herself.” 

“ I hope your friend Emmy will like me, and 
not consider me a — a — nuisance,” Marian re- 
turned hesitatingly. It had occurred to her that 
this dear friend of Ruth’s might regard her as an 
intruder. “ She may want you all to herself.” 

“ Oh, you needn’t be afraid of that,” came the 
comforting assurance. “ In the first place she 
can’t help liking you. Besides, she will like you 
because you are my cousin. Emmy is too sweet 
and generous to be jealous. She wouldn’t be so 
silly.” Ruth spoke with a positiveness that be- 
tokened firm faith in her roommate. But despite 
her confident prediction, she was destined to learn 
a number of decidedly surprising things about 
Emmeline Cerrito of which she had hitherto never 
even dreamed. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE SHADOW 

i 1 At last ! 7 7 Ruth Gamier gave a deep sigh of 
relief and anticipation as she listened to the sten- 
torian call , i ‘ Haines Falls ! Haines Falls ! 7 7 With 
an energy bom of the desire ever to be up and 
doing, she reached to the rack above her head for 
her hat and Marian 7 s. Hastily adjusting her 
broad-brimmed Panama, she began to collect her 
baggage. 

It was after eleven o’clock on the glorious Tues- 
day morning that marked the end of a rather 
uneventful journey, and with the prospect of re- 
union so close at hand, Ruth was seized with an 
overwhelming desire to rush past the patient line 
of luggage-laden travelers that had already begun 
to move toward the end of the car, and anticipate 
her arrival at the Falls by at least two minutes. 
As she fell in line with the slow-moving proces- 
sion, she bent eager eyes on the station platform 
of which she caught aggravating glimpses as she 
plodded on. 

“ Oh, there’s Betty ! 77 In passing, Ruth took 

39 


40 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

a final peep through the window nearest the train 
vestibule, then a jubilant cry rose to her lips. 
“ Come on, Marian! ” The next moment a blue- 
clad figure had left the train with precipitate haste 
and was making for a knot of young women in 
smart summer attire \^ho stood at one end of 
the platform watching the train with expectant 
eyes. 

“ You dear things! 99 Ruth had launched her- 
self straight into the center of the waiting group 
and proceeded ecstatically to embrace a tall, dig- 
nified girl in white, who returned the embrace with 
equally joyous abandon. 

“ Oh, my glasses! ” Betty Wyndham released 
Ruth and clutched frantically at her descending 
eye-glasses, retrieving them with a dexterous 
swoop before they reached the platform and de- 
struction. Ruth became enmeshed in a tangle of 
twining arms, while six eager voices were raised 
in a confused attempt at individual welcome. The 
Seven Savage Maidens were decidedly on the 
scene, as was evidenced by the tolerant, smiling 
glances which the bystanders cast in their direc- 
tion. 

“ And every one of you are here ahead of me/’ 
cried Ruth, beaming affectionately upon the circle 


The Shadow 


41 


of welcoming faces. “Oh, goodness! I almost 
forgot Marian! ” She broke from the fondly de- 
taining arms and drew her cousin, who had re- 
mained modestly in the background, into the midst 
of the company. 4 4 Girls, this is my cousin, Marian 
Selby. She’s a perfect dear and an ardent Camp 
Fire Girl. Marian, behold the other six Savage 
Maidens. I shan’t try to tell you their names 
and histories. They’ll tell you themselves. All 
except Betty. As hostess it is my duty to present 
you formally to her.” 

Betty Wyndham took Marian’s hand in both 
hers, saying earnestly: 44 Ruth has written me of 
you and said so many nice things about you that 
I think we are lucky to have such a pleasant addi- 
tion to our house-party. I am so glad you decided 
to come. ’ ’ 

44 Very pretty, Bettina,” laughed Ruth. 44 You 
are an ideal hostess from the word go. Now, 
Anne, show us what you can do in the way of a 
welcome address. Any little details of your per- 
sonal history will be appreciated.” 

44 I’m just Anne Follett, and my history isn’t 
very important. I suspect you know a good deal 
about us already from Ruth. I am ever so glad 
to know you. ’ ’ 


42 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

A slender, golden-haired girl with a sweet, 
serious face, lighted by appealing brown eyes, now 
stretched forth a small welcoming hand. 

“ I’m next, and allow me to state in the begin- 
ning that I’m just plain Jane,” said Jane Pellew 
briskly, her snapping black eyes glowing with 
friendliness as her thin brown fingers closed over 
Marian’s. 

1 ‘ Hear ! Hear ! Everybody please remember 
for future reference that we have with us this* 
morning, 1 just plain Jane,’” called a tall, fair- 
haired girl, who proceeded to introduce herself 
as Sarah Manning of Nevada. Frances Bliss was 
the next to claim attention, shaking Marian’s hand 
with true western heartiness. 

Emmeline Cerrito was last of the six girls to 
express her pleasure at meeting Marian. She did 
so in a courteous but restrained fashion that was 
in decided contrast to the smiling friendliness of 
the others. Marian experienced a curious sensa- 
tion of disappointment as she replied to the suave 
murmur of polite welcome that fell from Emmy’s 
lips. 

Ruth’s description of the beautiful girl had not 
been extravagant. From her plaited gown of soft 
white China silk to the tips of her trim white buck- 


The Shadow 


43 


skin shoes she was perfection, and Marian recog- 
nized in the apparent simplicity of her frock that 
air of distinctive smartness which only a French 
modiste can impart to the plainest gown. Under 
her white hemp hat the beauty of the French girl's 
face looked out with startling effect. Yet some- 
thing in the expression of the velvety black eyes 
sent a sudden chill to Marian’s heart. She fancied 
she read dislike in their depths. She instantly 
dismissed the apprehension and replied in kind 
to Emmy’s greeting, hut she was relieved when 
Betty Wyndham broke in upon them with solic- 
itous inquiries regarding the journey. She tried 
to fix her attention on what Betty was saying, but 
she could not help noting that Emmy turned away 
from her, with the bored air of one who has per- 
formed a perfunctory act of civility, and pro- 
ceeded to monopolize Ruth. 

“ We are going to take you to the hotel,” ex- 
plained Betty to Marian. “ We’ll have luncheon 
there, then we shall motor to our cottage. It is 
only a matter of two miles, and if we were in reg- 
ulation Camp Fire clothes we’d live up to our 
reputation by walking there, but we decided to 
dress up a little in honor of you girls, and so for 
once we’ll be lazy and ride. Luckily Emmy 


44 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

brought her car and it’s large enough to hold eight 
girls. By the way, is this all of your luggage? ” 
She pointed to the two bulging suitcases and the 
leather traveling bag that had been hastily de- 
posited on the station platform during the moment 
of greeting. 

“ No; we each have a steamer trunk. We had 
so many things to pack that we couldn’t begin to 
get them all into our suit cases,” replied Marian. 

“ Give me your checks and I’ll go to the bag- 
gage room and leave orders where to forward 
your trunks,” directed Betty. 

“Here is mine.” Fumbling in her handbag 
Marian produced her check. “Oh, Ruth,” she 
turned to her cousin who was deep in conversation 
with Emmy. An almost imperceptible frown ap- 
peared between the French girl’s dark brows at 
the interruption. It was not lost on Marian, who 
keenly sensitive, fancied she again read disap- 
proval of herself in that faint puckering of 
Emmy’s forehead. 

“ What is it! ” Ruth’s eyes momentarily sought 
her cousin’s as she asked the question. 

“ Give me your check. Miss Wyndham wishes 
to arrange with the baggage master about our 
trunks.” 


The Shadow 


45 


“You don’t mean ‘Miss 'Windham!’” cor- 
rected her hostess genially. “ You mean ‘ Betty.’- 
We are going to dispense with the ‘ Miss ’ on all 
occasions. It’s too stiff and formal, and if we 
are to be rollicking Camp Fire comrades we must 
dismiss ceremony — that is, unless it happens to 
be an occasion of solemn Camp Fire rites.” Then 
addressing the group: “ Go ahead, girls, to the 
automobile. I’ll attend to these checks and be 
with you directly.” 

Half a dozen willing hands possessed them- 
selves of the newcomers’ luggage. In obedience to 
Betty’s direction, the party of girls strolled across 
the platform toward the yard behind the station, 
making the air ring with joyous talk and laughter. 
Marian found herself walking beside Jane Pellew. 
She noted that Emmy and Ruth had taken the 
lead, and, with arms firmly linked, appeared to be 
completely absorbed in each other. 

“ Emmy has an awful crush on Ruth,” remarked 
Jane, who had observed the direction of Marian’s 
gaze. ‘ ‘ Of course, I can ’t blame her. They were 
roommates last year and Ruth really made her 
over.” 

“ She is very beautiful,” praised Marian. “ I 
think she’s the prettiest brunette I ever saw.” 


46 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ She is 1 some looker,’ as my brother would 
say. Still— ” Jane broke off abruptly, with an 
expressive shrug. “ Ruth understands her,” she 
added quickly, as though apologizing for the 
shrug. 

Emmeline Cerrito had elected to drive her own 
car. She and Ruth reached it a trifle ahead of the 
others. “ Get in beside me,” she commanded. “ I 
want you all to myself. 9 ’ 

“ All right,” nodded Ruth. Nevertheless she 
cast a half-regretful glance toward the tonneau 
of the automobile. 

“You can sit in the tonneau — if you like. ’ y De- 
spite the languid drawl in Emmy’s voice she was 
far from being indifferent. Her jealous eyes had 
caught Ruth’s quick glance and interpreted it cor- 
rectly. “ I thought perhaps you’d like to sit by 
me.” 

“Of course I would.” Ruth stifled her brief 
disappointment and replied heartily. 

By this time the girls had bestowed themselves 
snugly in the big brown machine and were waiting 
for Betty Wyndham. It was at least five minutes 
before she appeared. 

1 ‘ I had to wait, ’ ’ she apologized. ‘ 4 A fussy old 
gentleman saw the baggage master first, and I had 


The Shadow 


47 


to cultivate the noble virtue of patience until he 
finished telling the poor man how to run the bag- 
gage room.” 

“ I’ve saved six whole inches of room for you, 
Betty,” announced Sarah Manning generously. 
“ If you think that’s too much, or possibly too lit- 
tle, you can sit on my lap.” 

“I’ll accept the six inches and as much more 
as I can steal,” laughed Betty as she climbed into 
the car. “ All right, Emmy. Go ahead.” 

Once the car had left the station behind and 
turned into a wide tree-lined street, Emmy leaned 
toward Ruth and said in a low tone, “ Tell me 
about this cousin of yours, Ruth. How in the 
world did you happen to bring her along? You 
never mentioned her in your letter.” 

“ Well,” began Ruth, “it’s quite a tale.” In 
an equally low tone she recounted the story of 
Marian’s unexpected letter, followed by her ar- 
rival at Burton. Determined to atone for her 
mistaken idea of Marian, Ruth was loyally silent 
on the subject of her unjust tirade against the girl 
she had judged before seeing. 

“ But weren’t you awfully angry when you knew 
that her coming might spoil your trip? ” quizzed 
Emmy. “And how did you manage to get her 


48 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

invited to the house-party? Betty is so frosty 
about strangers.’ ’ 

A sudden flush dyed Buth’s cheeks. u I didn’t 
‘ manage ’ at all,” she said with a hint of stiffness. 
“ I wrote Betty and told her that I couldn’t accept 
her invitation on account of Marian’s visit and 
she wrote hack that she would be delighted to 
have Marian as a guest. The moment I met Mar- 
ian and saw her bracelet I knew we were sure to 
be friends. She is the dearest girl and so clever. 
She says the funniest things in a dry sort of way 
that keeps you laughing all the time.” 

Ruth’s enthusiastic praise of Marian awoke no 
responsive echo in Emmy. Her dark brows drew 
together in a straight line. It was too provoking 
in Ruth, she thought, to make so much fuss over 
this intruding cousin. ‘ ‘ I think you might at least 
have written me about her,” she said sulkily. “ I 
came up here on purpose to be with you, and now 
this cousin of yours will be sure to separate us.” 

‘ ‘ Why, Emmy ! ’ ’ Ruth ’s brown eyes were wide 
with surprise. “ I never thought you’d feel this 
way about Marian. I could have written you 
about her, but when I knew that I was going to 
see you so soon I decided it would be better to 
wait. I didn’t wish to spoil the surprise of Betty’s 


The Shadow 


49 


invitation, either. She wrote me that she was 
sending it to all of ns on the same mail.” 

“ How did you know I’d accept Betty’s invi- 
tation ? ’ ’ demanded Emmy. 

“I didn’t know, but I supposed you would.” 
Ruth looked distressed. 

“ You should have written me. If I had known 
this cousin of yours was with you I’d have stayed 
in Newport. I’m not half so much in love with 
this Camp Fire idea as I might be. It was you 
I was anxious to see. ’ ’ 

“ But you liked it ever so much last spring,” 
reminded Ruth. 

“Last spring isn’t now,” pouted Emmy. 
“Never mind. I’ll just have to make the best 
of it. I do hope, though, that you won’t consider 
yourself tied to this Marian’s apron strings.” 

Ruth bit her lip in silent vexation. This was 
a state of affairs on which she had not reckoned. 
She had never dreamed that Emmy could be 
jealous of anyone. She had always appeared so 
calmly indifferent. Nevertheless, right was right. 
She did not intend to begin her vacation by yield- 
ing to Emmy’s unreasonable attitude, much as she 
liked her. 

“ It was ever so nice in you to come up here 


50 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

just for me, Emmy,” she said quietly. “ Please 
believe I appreciate it. I am anxious to be with 
you, too, but Marian is my cousin and I like her 
immensely. I hope she will be friends with the 
girls, but still I feel that it is my duty to help 
her to have a good time while she is with us. ’ ’ 

“ Oh, very well, do just as you please. ” Emmy’s 
voice was freighted with icy indifference. “ 1 
dare say I shan’t stay here very long, anyway. I 
don’t fancy living in a cottage will prove highly 
exciting. If it bores me I shall know what to do. 
Here we are at the hotel. You had better see to 
your cousin. Very likely she is furious with me 
by this time for monopolizing you.” Emmy 
brought the car to a standstill in front of a pic- 
turesque hostelry almost entirely surrounded by 
silver birch trees. 

“ What a beautiful place! ” Ruth forgot her 
recent vexation as she gazed in admiration at the 
beautiful hotel peeping out from its guard of sil- 
ver-trunked birches that seemed to rustle a greet- 
ing. 

Emmy made no response as she flounced out of 
the car and stood moodily watching the bevy of 
girls alight. ‘ ‘ I ’m going to the postoffice, ’ ’ she an- 
nounced briefly. “I’ll join you later.” Climbing 


The Shadow 


51 


into the car she drove off. Ruth stared after her 
rapidly vanishing back with troubled eyes. Then 
she faced about, forcing herself to smile. She 
did not wish the others to suspect that all was not 
absolutely serene between herself and her room- 
mate. 

“ Come along, all of you,” invited Betty, lead- 
ing the way up the wide stone walk. Marian fell 
in step with her, for Anne Follett had already 
slipped a soft little hand into Ruth’s and the 
affectionate way in which she clung to her showed 
plainly the large place in her heart which Ruth 
occupied. Sarah, Jane Pellew and Frances Bliss 
brought up the rear, a seemingly merry and con- 
tented trio. But Jane alone of the flock of girls 
had observed threatening signs in Emmy’s abrupt 
departure. “ Emmy doesn’t like it because Ruth 
brought her cousin,” was her shrewd mental con- 
clusion. “ I always thought she had it in her 
to be jealous. I hope to goodness she gets over 
it in a hurry. If she doesn’t, then look out for 
squalls. I imagine she could be very disagreeable 
if she happened to feel like it.” 

But the precise extent of Emmy’s powers of ag- 
gression were yet to be revealed. 


CHAPTER Y 


ON THE HOAD TO WANDERER’S ROOST 

It was an apparently congenial company that 
gathered at a round table at one end of the pretty 
dining room of Silver Birch Inn for luncheon. On 
rejoining her friends, Emmeline Cerrito’s beauti- 
ful face showed no indication of the angry tumult 
which still surged within her. She laughed and 
talked with unusual animation, hiding her dis- 
pleasure with Ruth under a cloak of such light- 
some good humor that even sharp-eyed Jane 
Pellew was obliged for the time being to desert the 
opinion she had privately formed of her. Ruth 
on the contrary was not deceived by Emmy’s high 
spirits. She knew that the latter had purposely 
seated herself across the table from her, and that 
she was far from being over the pettishness which 
she had exhibited during the ride to the hotel. But 
she also knew that Emmy was altogether too proud 
to air her grievances in public. She doubted if 
her roommate would even broach the subject of 
Marian again to her. Nevertheless she was dis- 
tinctly aware of the barrier that Emmy saw fit 

52 


On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 53 

to build up deliberately between them, and the 
knowledge of it saddened her at the moment when 
she wished to be so happy. 

Despite the shadow that hung over two mem- 
bers of the house party, the luncheon passed off 
merrily and with much gayety. They lingered 
long over their dessert and it was Betty who at 
last reminded them that there were other pleas- 
ures in store for them. 

“It’s after two, children,” she announced, con- 
sulting her wrist watch. “ Far be it from me, as 
hostess, to tear you away from this festal board, 
but I’m awfully anxious for Ruth and Emmy and 
Marian to see our humble cot.” 

“Why, Emmy! ” exclaimed Ruth in surprise. 
“ I didn’t know you hadn’t been to the cottage 
yet. I supposed you were already an established 
fixture there. When did you arrive here ? I know 
it’s rather late in the day to be asking that, but 
we had so many other things to say when we 
first met that I forgot to inquire the precise 
moment you dawned upon Haines Falls.” 

“ Oh, Emmy’s been at Silver Birch Inn for the 
last two days,” informed Betty. “ She wouldn’t 
allow herself even a peep at ‘ Wanderer’s Roost ’ 
— that’s the name of our hut — until — ” 


54 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Until my car came,” finished Emmy abruptly. 
She had divined the ending of Betty’s sentence 
and forestalled her. If Ruth preferred that stu- 
pid cousin to herself, she would not give her the 
satisfaction of knowing that she had waited for 
her roommate’s arrival before visiting the cot- 
tage. 

4 ‘ I thought you were waiting for Ruth, ’ ’ blurted 
Frances Bliss with her usual frankness. 44 Don’t 
you remember you told us that you wanted to 
wait — ” 

4 4 Certainly I was anxious to see Ruth, ’ ’ inter- 
rupted Emmy, turning her dark eyes almost bel- 
ligerently upon this innocent blunderer. 44 It’s 
possible to kill two birds with one stone, isn’t it? ” 

44 If I didn’t know that 4 Wanderer’s Roost’ 
was even nicer than Silver Birch Inn, I should 
hate to leave here, ’ ’ broke in Anne Follett eagerly. 
She had caught the hurt look which had sprung 
into Ruth’s eyes at Emmy’s almost insolent ques- 
tion and had risen to the occasion. What had 
prompted Emmy to speak thus, she was at a loss 
to understand. To be sure, the latter was ruled 
by many moods. At school she had been known 
to change in a twinkling from ardent friendliness 
to a polite indifference, bordering on actual dis- 


On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 55 

like. As the year progressed, however, she had 
improved vastly under Ruth’s sunny influence. 
Away from Ruth, she had, no doubt, lapsed into 
her old provoking manner. But now that they 
were to be together again, Anne was convinced 
that all would be well. It would be wisest to 
ignore Emmy’s darker moods, and Anne resolved 
to whisper this to the others at the first oppor- 
tunity. 

As for Ruth herself, she was feeling the hurt 
of Emmy’s speech too greatly for words. A 
strange silence had settled down upon her, mo- 
mentarily tying her tongue. She understood only 
too clearly Emmy’s insinuation that it had been 
anxiety for the arrival of her car rather than 
fondness for her roommate that had kept her at 
the Inn. Then her sturdy independence reas- 
serted itself. This was not the time to mourn 
over personal differences. Betty had gone to a 
great deal of trouble to give pleasure to herself 
and her friends. They owed it to her to show 
their loyal appreciation. 

“I’d like to start for 1 Wanderer’s Roost’ at 
once,” she said brightly, rising from the table. 
“I’m crazy to get into my dear old Camp Fire 
clothes and begin living the simple life.” 


56 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Her cheery manner broke the slight reserve 
occasioned by Emmy’s inexplicable behavior. Her 
companions instantly responding, the party of 
girls trooped out of the dining room, conversing 
at a lively rate. Emmy alone had little to say. 
She strolled out to the veranda a trifle ahead of 
the others and continued on down the walk to 
where her automobile was stationed. 

“ Want to ride on the front seat, Jane? ” she 
called with studied carelessness as the others came 
up with her. 

“ De-lighted,” was Jane’s prompt response. 
Her first opinion had been revived by Emmy’s 
retort to Frances. She therefore reflected that, 
given a chance, she might help Euth’s cause along. 
She intended to try, at any rate, and Emmy’s 
invitation promised possible favorable results. 

“ Much obliged, Emmy,” laughed Anne. “ Not 
that we of the tonneau are anxious to be rid of 
plain Jane, but we’d like to take turns interview- 
ing Ruth. It’s positively noble in you to give us 
a chance.” 

“ Very glad you think so,” was Emmy’s crisp 
rejoinder. “ Pile in and we’ll be on our way.” 

“ Sit here, Ruth,” urged Frances Bliss, patting 
a vacant space between herself and Sarah Man- 


On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 


57 


ning. “We are dying to have the pleasure of 
your charming person at close range. Then 
Sarah and I can both talk in your ears at once/ ’ 

“It’s a good thing this car is large enough to 
hold this entire aggregation of savage but beau- 
teous maidens," smiled Anne Follett. “Once 
reunited, we prefer being crowded in an auto to 
separation. ' 9 

“We were crowded in an auto, 

Not a girl was left behind. 

It was midday in the Catskills, 

And we all were quite resigned 
To being jammed and jumbled 
As we journeyed to our lair, 

For our Emmy'd sworn to land us 
Strictly right side up with care ! 9 9 

chanted Frances Bliss in admirable paraphrase of 
that timeworn poem, “ We Were Crowded in the 
Cabin . 9 9 

“Hurrah for Frances !" cried Jane Pellew. 
“ That's what I should call a marvelous inspira- 
tion. How on earth do you do it, Frances ? 99 

“Oh, I don't know." Frances flushed. “It 
just comes to me. My sister and I used to sit on 
our veranda and make rhymes about the people 


58 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

f 

that went by. I’d start a rhyme and she’d fin- 
ish it. Sometimes they were so funny that we’d 
simply shriek with laughter. Then the folks that 
passed would look up at us as if they thought we 
were crazy. I suppose that’s where I learned to 
do it. We certainly had practice enough.” 

“I can’t make rhymes at all,” asserted Betty 
Wyndham. “ I suppose it’s because I’m too mat- 
ter-of-fact.” 

“ Marian can write verses,” announced Ruth. 
“ She let me read some that she wrote last year 
in college and they are wonderful. She writes 
perfectly splendid stories, too.” 

Marian grew very red under the battery of 
interested eyes bent upon her. “ Oh, they don’t 
amount to so much,” she murmured. 

Unluckily Emmy had turned about for an in- 
stant, her attention attracted by the laughter 
which Frances’ paraphrase had evoked. She was 
just in time to hear Ruth’s remark. It merely 
added fuel to the fire that raged within her and 
she faced front with an angry jerk that caused 
Jane Pellew to ask, “ What’s the matter? ” 

“ Nothing,” she muttered, drawing her black 
brows into such a ferocious scowl that Jane fore- 
bore to question her further. 


On the Road to Wanderer's Roost 59 

Ruth’s announcement had, however, awakened 
within her friends a keen interest in Marian, and 
they proceeded to draw her out, questioning her 
about her life at Winton College and relating vari- 
ous events that had taken place at Miss Belaire , s. 
Without intention, she soon found herself the 
center of their conversation and forgetting her 
usual shyness soon had them laughing over the 
droll account of things that had happened to her 
and various others of her friends during their 
freshman year at Winton. 

Ruth listened happily to her cousin’s ridicu- 
lous anecdotes. Above all she wished the girls 
to like Marian for herself. Now that she had 
emerged from her shell and proved herself such 
good company, she was in a fair way to become 
a popular member of the house-party. To Ruth 
the ride to the cottage was in itself a joy. A 
true lover of nature, she was keenly alive to the 
picturesque beauty of the country about her. She 
was content to sit silent, breathing in the fra- 
grant, spicy air. As her eyes dwelt eagerly on 
the distant wooded slopes, her mind reverted to 
the immortal Rip Van Winkle who had lain down 
and slept away twenty years of his life in this 
fairyland through which they were now passing. 


60 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Wliat are you dreaming about, Ruth? ” Betty 
had observed the musing light in her friend’s 
brown eyes. 

“I was thinking of Rip Van Winkle,” smiled 
Ruth. “ I don’t see how he could possibly have 
stayed asleep for twenty years in this wonderful 
land. There must be a great many interesting 
places to go and things to see about here.” 

“ There are loads of them. There’s Sunset 
Rock, Fawn’s Leap, Boulder Rock, Kaaterskill 
Falls, Alligator Rock and lots of other interesting 
spots. Haines Falls is worth seeing and there’s 
the Otis incline railway, too, that goes right up 
into the mountains. I love Sunset Rock best of 
all. The view from there is simply marvelous. 
But you’ll see them all. We shall make pilgrim- 
ages to every picturesque spot in this vicinity. ’ ’ 

i 6 How far are we from the cottage ? ’ ’ Emmy 
had halted the automobile and turned halfway 
about, addressing her remark directly to Betty. 
Jane Pellew compressed her lips a trifle. Thus 
far on the journey she had instructed Emmy re- 
garding the way to “ Wanderer’s Roost.” She 
was perfectly capable of answering Emmy’s ques- 
tion, but it seemed that this taciturn young person 
had set out to be perverse, even in small matters. 


On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 61 

In reality Emmy had merely sought an excuse 
that would give her an opportunity to discover 
what was going on behind her. She had half 
hoped to see Ruth looking unhappy. She deserved 
to suffer for her stupid obstinacy. But Ruth did 
not appear to be even disturbed. She was talking 
animatedly to Sarah Manning and smiling so 
cheerfully that Emmy whisked angrily about with- 
out waiting for Betty’s answer. 

“We are almost there, Emmy,” called Betty. 
“ You can’t drive directly up to the Roost over 
this road. It stands on a little bluff, and we’ll 
have to walk to get there. Jane will tell you 
where to stop. She knows the way. ’ ’ 

Shortly afterward, this time at Jane’s some- 
what chilly direction, Emmy brought her car to 
a standstill in front of a large, old-fashioned 
house. Fenced in, it stood a little back from the 
road in the midst of a close-cut lawn. A wide 
driveway curved to one side of it and behind it 
was a smaller brick building that looked like a 
garage. Situated at the terminus of the high- 
way beyond it was a small open space that ended 
where a fairly steep hill began. 

“ Is this your cottage, Betty? ” asked Ruth in 
surprise. 


62 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Oh, no, you can’t see the Roost from here. 
There is our trail ahead of us.” She pointed to 
a narrow path winding up the hillside, which 
appeared to end at its top. 

“ But it looks as though it ended at the crest 
of that hill,” rejoined Ruth, her eyes on the thick- 
growing bushes above, where the trail was lost 
to view. 

The girls still sat in the car, their gaze fixed 
on the wavering path Betty had pointed out. 

‘ ‘Those bushes merely hide it,” explained 
Betty. “It’s there just the same, only it goes 
down the other side and up again between two 
hills that form a regular pass. When you reach 
that pass you can see the Roost. It’s right at the 
head of it. When we are standing in front of the 
cottage we can look down and see anyone who 
comes, long before they reach the Roost. If these 
woods were full of Indians attacking us we could 
hold the cottage against them as long as our 
ammunition held out. I suppose at one time or 
another, long ago, the pioneers may have held 
this very pass against the Indians. This part of 
the country was once overrun with savages. Some- 
times I’ve stood at the top of the bluff and won- 
dered what I’d do if a painted Indian were sud- 


On the Road to Wanderer’s Roost 63 

denly to stalk out from among the trees, toma- 
hawk and all. ,, 

‘ ‘ We ought to be thankful that we are living 
in the days of automobiles and Indian reserva- 
tions,^ laughed Frances Bliss. ‘ ‘ Just imagine 
how dreadful it was for those poor pioneers to be 
awakened in the middle of the night by blood- 
curdling warwhoops ! ’ ’ 

“ Don’t mention it,” shuddered Sarah. “If 
you keep on talking about such horrors, I’ll dream 
of them to-night, and I warn you my nightmares 
are anything but quiet little affairs.” 

“ I can testify to that fact,” giggled Frances. 
“ I remember distinctly one night last year when 
Sarah and I finished a big bos of Huyler’s before 
we went to bed. Sarah had been reading the 
1 Tale of Two Cities 7 for English Four and was 
trying to work out an original in geometry at the 
same time. The consequence was, she dreamed 
she went to geometry class and couldn’t do the 
original and Miss Melby took her by the hair, 
jammed her into a big basket and dragged her 
off to the chapel to be guillotined. Naturally, 
Sarah objected. She objected so loudly that she 
woke me up just as she fell out of bed, screaming, 
‘ I won’t have my head cut off ! ’ ” 


64 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

A shout of laughter went up as Frances finished 
with the condemned Sarah’s frantic protest. Sarah 
grinned rather sheepishly. 

Emmeline Cerrito had taken no part in the 
merriment. She leaned back in her seat, the pic- 
ture of bored tolerance. 

“You can leave your car in the garage back of 
this house, Emmy,” explained Betty. “ The man 
who lives here promised to look after it. I have 
already made arrangements for it. I thought 
you’d like to have it near you. Just below here is 
a crossroad that leads to another highway. We 
call it the back road, because it runs below the 
Roost and is only a little way from it. You can 
walk down from the Roost through the Pass to 
this garage and drive your car around almost to 
our back door any time you feel like doing so. I 
meant to tell you before, but it slipped my mind.” 

“ Thank you just the same, but I think I had 
rather leave my car at the Inn garage. I am 
quite anxious to go back to Haines Falls for sev- 
eral reasons. Later in the afternoon, I’ll have 
one of the men at the Inn garage make the drive 
here with me. Then he can take the car back.” 

“But wouldn’t you prefer to have your car 
nearer the cottage, Emmy! ” argued Betty. 


On the Road to Wanderer's Roost 65 

“ The man I speak of is a friend of father’s and 
has a large garage. It will he perfectly safe 
there. ’ ’ 

“ I have already made arrangements for it at 
the Inn garage,” repeated Emmy with stubborn 
finality. “I’ll see you later.” As she spoke she 
began hacking the automobile, preparatory to 
turning around. A little to the rear an open space 
offered sufficient room for the turn. 

The group of girls stood watching her in 
silence. What was the matter with Emmy? She 
had been all smiles and graciousness that morn- 
ing when they had gone to the train to meet 
Ruth. Now she had mysteriously changed into 
the bored, indifferent Miss Cerrito whom they 
had regarded with mingled awe and diffidence 
when she had first put in a tardy appearance at 
Miss Belaire’s Academy. Jane Pellew thought 
she understood, hut Ruth alone knew the rea- 
son for this curiously unpleasant transformation. 
She took a step forward as though about to speak 
to Emmy. Then she drew back. She would make 
no attempt at conciliation. Her roommate ’s griev- 
ance was without cause, therefore she would let 
her get over it as best she might. 


CHAPTER VI 


STANDING BY HER COLORS 

‘ ‘ What has come over Emmy? ” was Betty 
Wyndham’s perplexed inquiry as the French girl 
and her car rapidly disappeared from view. ‘ 4 She 
was as gay as a lark this morning. I can’t think 
of anything I have said or done to off end her. ’ ’ 

“ Don’t worry about Emmy, Betty,” was Jane 
Pellew’s impatient counsel. The subject of 
Emmy’s moods had ceased to be of interest to 
matter-of-fact Jane. Having been unable to fer- 
ret out the cause of the former’s peculiar behavior 
she was quite ready to dismiss the matter from 
her active mind and go on to something infinitely 
more pleasant. Of an alert, restless disposition, 
she had not the patience to explore the intricacies 
of a temperament so complex as Emmeline Cer- 
rito’s. 

“ I don’t believe she is offended with anyone,” 
declared Frances bluntly. ‘ 4 When we first met 
her she was like that. Sarah and I thought she 
didn’t like us the least little bit, but we soon 
decided it was only her way. I was really sur- 
66 


Standing by Her Colors 


67 


prised when she joined the Camp Fire band. She 
wasn’t in the least enthusiastic about it, at first. 
Don’t you remember? ” 

“ Ruth is responsible for Emmy’s conversion,” 
asserted Anne. “ It was because she grew so 
fond of our Ruth that she joined.” She cast an 
affectionate smile at the latter. 

Ruth returned it rather faintly. She wondered 
what her companions would say if she told them 
that she and Emmy had disagreed almost in the 
moment of meeting. Naturally frank in all her 
dealings, she disliked having to conceal anything 
from those she esteemed and trusted. It was 
hard indeed to enter upon this happy vacation 
with a cloud of Emmy’s own willful creation hang- 
ing over her. She hoped that her roommate would 
speedily come to a realization of her own child- 
ishness and become her old fascinating self again. 
When Emmy returned that afternoon, Ruth made 
up her mind to show her in every possible way 
that Marian’s presence at the house-party could 
make no difference in their friendship. 

“ There isn’t the least use in standing here all 
day, children,” was Betty’s brisk comment. “ The 
sooner we strike the Roost, the sooner we can 
show our worthy colleagues around.” 


68 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ 1 Worthy colleagues ’ is good,” retorted Ruth, 
resolutely banishing her own gloomy reflections. 
‘ 1 Let us hope we can live up to it. Lead on, my 
dear Miss Wyndham. ’ ’ She made an exaggerated 
bow to Betty. 

As the party of wayfarers, headed by Betty, 
began the ascent of the little hill, Ruth found 
herself walking beside Anne. 

‘ 4 What is the trouble between you and Emmy, 
dear? ” Anne’s voice was keyed just above a 
whisper. As she spoke she slipped a soft little 
hand into Ruth’s. 

“I thought you noticed, Anne, from the way 
you changed the subject while we were at the 
Inn, ’ ’ Ruth said in an undertone. 

“Yes, I saw that something was wrong. If 
you’d rather not tell me, then please forget that 
I asked you.” 

“ You are a dear and I’d tell you sooner than 
I would anyone else, but it isn’t really very seri- 
ous and if you don’t mind I’d rather not talk 
about it. I’m sure Emmy will be all right when 
she returns.” 

Anne gave Ruth’s hand an understanding 
squeeze, which meant that, so far as she was 
concerned, the matter was ended then and there. 


Standing by Her Colors 


69 


They had now reached the other side of the 
hill and ahead of and above them Ruth caught 
her first glimpse of Wanderer’s Roost. Her imag- 
ination had pictured the cottage as rather a mod- 
est affair; she was therefore not prepared for the 
large and picturesque dwelling that met her eyes. 
Surrounded by graceful silver birches it stood on 
a fairly steep bluff at the head of the Pass. “ How 
beautiful! ” she exclaimed. 

‘ 1 Isn’t it, though?” agreed Anne warmly. 
“ And it’s ever so much nicer inside the cottage. 
Betty is lucky to have such a lovely place in 
which to entertain her friends. I was crazy about 
it the very first minute I saw it, and the more I 
see of it the better I like it. Now that we are 
all here, we’ll have a glorious time. I’m so sorry 
that Miss Drexal couldn’t come. Betty had quite 
a time getting some one for a house mother. 
Finally her aunt said she’d come. If she hadn’t 
— well, the Seven Savage Maidens would have 
had the pleasure of staying at home, I suppose. 
That is the penalty we pay for being just girls. 
We always need some responsible person along 
to look after us.” 

‘ ‘ I know it, ’ ’ sighed Ruth. She had always pri- 
vately mourned at having not been born a boy. 


70 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Still, girls can be as self-reliant and brave as 
boys. Camp Fire Girls, I mean.” 

“ Of course they can,” nodded Anne. “ Who 
knows, we may be able to do something really 
heroic while we are up here. But even if we 
don’t find an opportunity to display our valor 
we can show Betty how much we appreciate her 
by being pleased with everything.” 

“ Mother says it’s the little things that count 
most, after all,” said Ruth softly. “If we do 
them cheerfully and well, the big things will take 
care of themselves.” 

“It’s a pretty hard standard to live up to,” 
sighed Anne. 

“ I know it. All we can do is to keep on try- 
ing.” 

“Hurry along, you laggers!” Jane Pellew’s 
brisk call brought the two friends to a sudden 
realization of their whereabouts. Deeply ab- 
sorbed in their talk, they had unconsciously 
dropped behind the others. 

“ Come on, Anne.” Ruth took firm hold of her 
friend’s arm and started up the Pass at a swing- 
ing pace. Anne responded nobly and they soon 
brought up at the top of the elevation on which 
the cottage stood. For an instant Ruth forgot 


Standing by Her Colors 


71 


everything as her beauty-loving eyes rested upon 
the wonderful panorama which Nature had spread 
before her with a lavish hand. From the point 
where she stood she could follow the narrow pass 
to the point where it seemed to end in a wall of 
living green. Her vivid fancy pictured a soli- 
tary pioneer lying concealed among the riot of 
bushes that fringed the bluff, his rifle at his shoul- 
der, his alert eyes fixed on a line of painted sav- 
ages slowly creeping up the narrow trail. 

“Wake up, Ruth,” Betty’s laughing voice at 
her elbow dispelled her day dream. “I hate to 
tear you away from this,” she waved a compre- 
hensive hand in the direction of the Pass, “ hut 
Aunt Louise is standing in the doorway of the 
Roost, waiting for us.” 

“It's all so marvelous.” Ruth’s face shone 
with positive reverence. As she turned away she 
asked, “ What is the name of the Pass, Betty? ” 
“It hasn’t any, so far as I know,” returned 
Betty lightly. “Would you like to give it a 
handle? ” 

“ Oh, may I? ” questioned Ruth eagerly. “ To 
tell you the truth, I’d already named it to myself. 
I’d like to call it ‘ Lookout Pass.’ ” 

“That’s a splendid name/’ approved Betty 


72 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

with enthusiasm. 44 We’ll have a formal christen- 
ing to-night after dinner and smash a bottle of 
grape juice on that rock down there. Provided 
we can hit it. But my long suffering aunt is still 
waiting to welcome you.” 

The other members of the party had already 
crossed the short stretch of well-kept lawn and 
were now gathered around a tall, slender, blue- 
eyed woman who had stepped from the doorway 
onto the veranda to meet them. Marian was en- 
gaged in shaking hands with her as Betty and 
Buth joined the group. 

44 I am very glad to know you, my dear,” was 
Miss Wyndham’s greeting as she shook Buth’s 
hand. 4 4 1 have heard so much about you that I 
know we shall be the best of friends.” 

A swift wave of homesickness smote Buth as 
she listened to the soft voice. Although there 
was no resemblance, something about Miss Wynd- 
ham brought a vision of Buth’s own mother be- 
fore her. 4 4 1 know I shall love you , 9 9 she said 
impulsively. 

44 Everybody loves Aunt Louise,” declared 
Betty. 44 That’s why I was so determined to have 
her up here. If she hadn’t come of her 
own free will I’d have felt it my duty to kidnap 


Standing by Her Colors 


73 


her and drag her to the Roost by main force. But 
as usual she behaved like an angel and came up 
here, bag and baggage, without a murmur.’ ’ 

i ‘ There is nothing like having an untiring press 
agent,” smiled Miss Wyndham. “ But the proof 
of the pudding is in the eating. I may turn out 
to be a stem tyrant, after all.” 

4 4 You couldn’t be cross if you tried,” contra- 
dicted Betty loyally. 

‘ 6 Wait and see,” was Miss Wyndham ’s solemn 
rejoinder, but the twinkle in her blue eyes belied 
her prediction. “ At least I must prove myself 
hospitable. Ruth and Marian must be very tired 
after their long journey. Take them to their 
room, Betty. But where is Emmeline? I under- 
stood you to say that she, too, was to be here 
to-day.” 

Betty explained that Emmy had insisted on 
driving the party to the Roost in her car and had 
returned to the Inn with the automobile. i 1 1 
wanted to go back with her, but she wouldn ’t hear 
of it. She promised to come later. She prefers 
to keep her car at the Inn garage,” finished Betty, 
frowning slightly. Although Emmy had followed 
her own inclinations, Betty found it hard to 
explain her nonarrival in an offhand manner. She 


74 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

secretly wished that Emmy had not flown in the 
face of the arrangements she had made for her. 
It made it appear almost as though Betty herself 
had been guilty of inhospitality. 

Miss Wyndham made no further comment on 
the missing member of the house-party. Acute 
of perception, she divined that her niece was not 
entirely at ease on the subject. “ I suppose you 
two would like to room together.” She addressed 
herself to Ruth and Marian. “There are five 
sleeping rooms in the cottage. Betty and I share 
one, Jane and Anne another, Frances and Sarah 
decline to he separated. That leaves Emmeline 
a whole room to herself, unless one of you pre- 
fers to be alone. However, you three can settle 
that point when she arrives. Now come inside 
and Betty will take you upstairs.” 

From the veranda Miss Wyndham ushered her 
guests into an attractive hall and on to a spacious 
living room, the beauty of which caused both Ruth 
and Marian to cry out with delight. As is the 
case with many cottages in the Catskills, the walls 
of the living room were built of spruce, finished 
in silver birch with the bark out. The beamed 
ceiling and immense fireplace at one side of the 
room added immeasurably to the artistic effect. 


Standing 1 by Her Colors 


75 


The polished floor was covered with a particularly 
beautiful rug in soft grays. A drab leather daven- 
port at one end of the room, piled high with gay 
silk cushions, lent gust the precise amount of 
coloring to the general effect, while the deep wicker 
and willow chairs scattered about the room seemed 
especially designed for comfort. 

“ It’s quite the prettiest room I ever saw,” bub- 
bled Ruth, “ and I don’t believe there is an uncom- 
fortable spot in it.” 

“There isn’t,” assured Jane Pellew. “I’ve 
tried every last chair and I know whereof I 
speak. ’ ’ 

After duly exclaiming and admiring in the 
fashion belonging only to girls, Ruth and Marian 
followed Betty into the hall and up the broad 
staircase. 

1 ‘ This is your room, ’ ’ announced Betty, throw- 
ing open a door at the left of the stairs. 1 1 1 say 
‘ your room, ’ but of course when Emmy comes you 
three can settle things definitely. This room 
adjoins Auntie’s and mine, and the bath is be- 
tween. I’ll leave you girls to your own destruc- 
tion. Only don’t annihilate yourselves completely, 
for we need you in our happy band. And don’t 
stay away from us too long. We must all be 


76 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

together as much as we can while we have the 
chance.’ ’ 

With a gay little nod, Betty vanished, leaving 
her guests to look about their new habitation. 
Like the living room, it also evoked much admira- 
tion on their part. The same silver birch finish- 
ing was in evidence. The rug was of a delicate 
blue, the furniture in white maple. The white 
ruffled window curtains of crisp dotted Swiss mus- 
lin, together with the deep willow chairs and artis- 
tic willow reading stand, made the room as dainty 
a nest as one could wish. 

There were also narrow twin beds, each with 
its folded quilt of pale blue silk. Marian sat down 
on one of them with a long sigh of sheer satisfac- 
tion. “Isn’t this room perfectly sweet?” was 
her eager question. “I shall love it, I’m sure. 
I’ve always wanted a blue room like this.” 

“It surely is lovely,” commented Ruth 
rather absently. Her mind was not on Marian, 
although she heard dimly what her cousin was 
saying. A new and decidedly perplexing prob- 
lem had risen to confront her. What should she 
do about Emmy? Undoubtedly, Emmy would feel 
that she had the best right to be her roommate. 
Yet it seemed hardly fair to desert Marian. Per- 


Standing by Her Colors 


77 


haps it would be wisest to take Marian into her 
confidence and inform her of the exact state of 
affairs. She was so good-natured that Ruth had 
not the slightest doubt regarding what her answer 
would he. She would immediately declare that 
she was quite willing for her cousin to room with 
Emmy, and unselfishly resign all claim to the 
pretty room she had so greatly admired. She 
would no doubt say cheerfully that she didn’t in 
the least mind rooming alone and assure Ruth 
that her feelings were not hurt. If, when Emmy 
arrived at the cottage, she found that, after all, 
she and Ruth were to room together, she would 
become speedily mollified and the threatening 
shadow would disappear. But was it quite fair 
to Marian to ask her to make this sacrifice merely 
for the sake of pleasing Emmy? Though Marian 
was at present Betty’s guest, first of all she had 
been hers. She it was who had insisted, in the 
face of her cousin’s refusal, that Marian make 
one of the house-party. The sacred law of hos- 
pitality still bound her to consider Marian’s wel- 
fare. Ruth suddenly threw back her shoulders 
with the air of one who has come to a definite 
decision. When Emmy arrived it was with her, 
not Marian, she would have that private talk. 


CHAPTER VII 


A HEART TO HEART TALK 

The waning afternoon brought no sign of the 
return of Emmeline Cerrito. Aside from consid- 
erable speculation as to what had happened to 
detain her, the seven girls spent a happy session 
together on the veranda, talking over bygone days, 
their conversation permeated with frequent bursts 
of carefree laughter. As dinner time approached, 
however, a vague uneasiness began to make itself 
manifest among them. 

“What do you suppose is keeping Emmy? M 
asked Frances Bliss at last. There had been a 
brief lull in the conversation during which each 
girl had been asking herself the same question. 

“ That’s exactly what I was thinking. Great 
minds, you know.” It was Jane Pellew who 
spoke. 

“ She ought to be here by this time. I’m sorry 
I didn’t insist on going back with her.” Betty 
Wyndham looked distinctly worried. 

“ We might go upstairs, get into our Camp Fire 
clothes and walk down to meet her.” The sug- 
78 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


79 


gestion came from Buth. She was deeply con- 
cerned over Emmy’s continued absence. “Pm 
glad that Marian and I packed our Camp Fire 
uniforms in our suit cases. We were going to put 
them in our trunks, then we decided we wouldn’t. 
We wanted to have them handy in case we needed 
them in a hurry. When we had them packed there 
wasn’t much room left in our suit cases for any- 
thing else. But we managed to jam the rest of 
our necessary stuff into the traveling bag. Know- 
ing the baggage delivery to be a weird, mysterious 
institution of many promises and few fulfillments, 
we proposed to be on the safe side. A Camp Fire 
suit in time saves lamentation. But how are we 
to get our trunks, Betty? I can’t imagine any 
delivery man in his sane mind traveling the length 
of that Pass with a trunk on his shoulders. ’ ’ 

“ Didn’t you hear me telling Emmy that there 
was another approach to the Boost ? ’ ’ asked Betty. 

Buth shook her head. “No; I didn’t,” she 
returned, flushing slightly. She had been so an- 
noyed at the sulky manner in which Emmy was 
conducting herself that Betty’s explanations had 
not been impressed upon her worried mind. 

“Well, I’ll tell you about it all over again,” 
smiled Betty. “ Our lawn at the back of the Boost 


80 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

slopes directly down to another highway. We 
could have come that way this afternoon. It’s 
rather roundabout, though. And it wouldn’t have 
been much use as long as we haven’t a garage at 
the Eoost. Besides, the Pass is so interesting. 
To go through it makes one feel as though one had 
actually left civilization behind. That back road 
may be useful, but it’s ordinary. The Pass is — 
well, it’s romantic, and I like to keep up the illu- 
sion.” 

“ I understand,” nodded Euth. “ Half the fun 
in living in a lovely place like this is to imagine 
one is really cut off from the rest of the world.” 

“ Imagination isn’t one, two, three with reality 
when it comes to hanging hopefully out the win- 
dow watching for one’s trunk, as I did yesterday. 
That back road is a glorious institution and ought 
to be appreciated,” declared Jane. 

‘ ‘ My back road ’tis of thee, 

Whence came my trunk to me. 

Of thee I sing ! 

Eoad up the mountain side, 

Of Wand’rer’s Eoost the pride, 

I would not thee deride 
For anything ! ’ ’ 
caroled Frances mischievously. 


81 


A Heart to Heart Talk 

“ That’s an insult to our national hymn and to 
Jane. Down with the offender! ” Sarah ad- 
vanced upon Frances, who retreated so hastily 
that she bumped violently against the porch swing 
in which J ane sat tranquilly swaying. The unsus- 
pecting victim lurched ungracefully forward, 
barely saving herself from violent contact with 
the veranda floor. 

“ Trying to add injury to insult,” was Jane’s 
scathing comment as she regained her balance. 
“I think I’d better take a hand in punishing 
the offender. Suppose I had broken my nose? ” 
She fixed a menacing eye on the unlucky Frances, 
who, regardless of the enormity of her crime, 
leaned against the porch rail, speechless with 
laughter. 

“Excuse — me — Jane!” she gasped. “I’m 
awfully sorry! ” 

“ You look sorry,” jeered Sarah. 

“ Truly I am.” Frances straightened her face 
with difficulty. “If you had broken your nose, 
Jane, let this sweet thought console you: I would 
have picked you up tenderly and wept over you! ” 

“ You mean ‘ laughed,’ ” corrected Jane, smil- 
ing a little in spite of herself. “ Even your tears 
wouldn’t have mended my broken nose.” 


82 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ All the king’s horses and all the king’s men 
Couldn’t put Janie’s nosey together again! ” 
murmured Frances sadly. 

“ What’s the use of mourning over what didn’t 
happen? ” remarked Anne unsympathetically. 
‘‘You remind me of Clever Elsie in Grimm’s Fairy 
Tales, Jane. Don’t you remember? She sat in 
the cellar and nearly cried her eyes out because 
she happened to think that if she had had a son 
he might have fallen down the cellar stairs and 
broken his neck.” 

A chorus of giggles greeted this remark, in 
which even Jane was obliged to join. 

“You are a hard-hearted aggregation,” she 
accused, “ and I shan’t stay here and be abused. 
Besides, if we are going out on a hunt for a miss- 
ing maiden, we’d better be starting.” 

Betty, who had paused in the doorway, a laugh- 
ing spectator of Jane’s disaster, vanished inside 
the house to inform her aunt of the proposed 
expedition, and the others were not slow to follow 
her, going to their rooms to don official attire. 

Fifteen minutes later a bevy of blue-clad for- 
esters, their serviceable serge skirts just meeting 
their trim, high-laced tan boots, had replaced the 
group of daintily-dressed girls who had so lately 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


83 


lounged about the veranda. They had now cast 
aside the indolent air of leisure which had per- 
vaded the porch party and stood waiting for Betty, 
alert and eager to take the trail, who soon ap- 
peared on the veranda, looking exceedingly trim. 

“ Don’t be late for dinner, girls,’ ’ called Miss 
Wyndham after them, as they swung across the 
lawn toward the Pass. 

Reassuring nods and a waving of hands an- 
swered her solicitous injunction, then the little 
company swung around the corner of the bluff 
where the descent began, to reappear single file 
down the Pass, which could be plainly seen from 
the veranda. But their expedition in the cause 
of the tardy French girl was destined to end 
almost as soon as it began. They had reached the 
spot where the Pass ended in the open space at 
the foot of the hill. It was there that they had 
left the automobile for the last lap of their jour- 
ney. From this point the main road stretched 
away toward Haines Falls. As they came out 
on the highway the chugging sound of a motor- 
cycle assaulted their ears. Up the road a solitary 
motorist was bearing down upon them in a great 
cloud of dust. 

As he neared them, Betty gave a quick exclama- 


84 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

tion of alarm. In him she recognized a man from 
the Silver Birch Inn garage. “ He’s from the 
Inn,” she gasped. ‘ ‘ Something dreadful must 
have happened to Emmy! I’m sure he’s bound 
for the Roost with a message.” 

“ Stop him,” cried Jane excitedly. 

However, the motorcyclist needed no order to 
stop. The instant he spied the group gathered at 
one side of the road, he brought up at a full stop 
in front of them. 

“ Are any of you young ladies from Mr. Wynd- 
ham’s cottage? ” he asked, respectfully touching 
his leather cap. 

“Iam Miss Betty Wyndham.” Betty stepped 
forward, confronting the man. ‘ ‘ Have you a mes- 
sage for me?” 

“Yes, Miss.” Reaching into his coat-pocket 
the man produced a sealed envelope which he 
handed to Betty. It bore the French girl’s unmis- 
takable chirography. “ I was told I needn’t wait 
for an answer, Miss.” He turned away as though 
about to depart. 

“ Wait a moment,” commanded Betty. “ 1 , at 
least, may desire to send an answer to this. Par- 
don me, girls. ’ ’ She tore open the envelope and, 
unfolding the sheet of note paper, bearing the let- 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


85 


terhead of the Silver Birch Inn, scanned the famil- 
iar writing with an ever-deepening frown. 

“ Please say to Miss Cerrito that Miss Wynd- 
ham will expect her at Wanderer’s Roost to-mor- 
row,’ ’ she directed the messenger in her most 
dignified manner. Her companions were taking 
in the little scene in absolute silence. Nevertheless 
curiosity looked out from every face. 

1 * Very well, Miss. ’ ’ Again touching his cap the 
messenger turned to his motorcycle and was soon 
puffing noisily away from the scene, leaving a trail 
of dust behind him. 

“For goodness sake tell us what has hap- 
pened,” implored Jane Pellew, the moment the 
man was out of earshot. 

Betty faced them, her fine features indicative 
of deep annoyance. “Really, girls, I feel as 
though I’d like to give Emmeline Cerrito a good 
shaking Tyhen I see her again. It’s too provoking % 
in her. But here. Read this for yourselves and 
perhaps you’ll understand. I’m sure I don’t.” 

Jane’s ready hand reached out to receive the 
proffered sheet of note paper which had occa- 
sioned Betty’s displeasure. Five heads peered 
anxiously over her shoulder, regardless of eti- 
quette. Marian alone made no effort to see what 


86 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Emmy had written. She stood a little to one side, 
a peculiar smile flickering about the corners of 
her good-humored mouth. Since her meeting with 
Emmeline Cerrito she had seen more than ap- 
peared upon the surface. 

Jane had begun to read the note aloud. 

‘ ‘ Dear Betty : 

“When I reached the Inn to-day I was 
greatly surprised on looking on the register 
to find Blanche Shirly’s name. She and her 
mother are here for the summer. As they 
were quite anxious for me to dine with them 
and stay for the hop, I decided to do so. 
Blanche knows a number of delightful young 
men who are staying at the hotel, and as I 
love to dance, I could not resist accepting her 
invitation. I shall endeavor to come out to 
the Roost to-morrow afternoon. I am going 
to take Blanche motoring in the morning. 
Please present my sincere apologies to your 
aunt. I would apologize to you, too, but as 
you have the rest of the girls with you, you 
won’t really miss me. 

“ Yours hastily, 

“ Emmeline Cerrito 99 

“ Well of all things ! 99 burst from Jane Pellew’s 
lips. “ Blanche Shirly at the Inn! I had no idea 
she was in this part of the country! ” 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


87 


“I thought Emmy didn’t care much for 
Blanche,’ ’ was Sarah Manning’s blunt remark 
“ Don’t you remember? She used to give funny 
imitations of her ridiculous grown-up airs.” 

4 ‘It’s quite evident from this note that she’s 
changed her opinion,” put in Frances. “One 
might imagine that she and Blanche were sworn 
friends.” 

“ Very likely she just made up her mind all of 
a sudden that she’d like to stay for the hop,” sug- 
gested Anne Follett quietly. “ Emmy’s different 
from the rest of us. She has lived in hotels most 
of her life and naturally those things appeal to 
her.” Anne made this valiant effort in Emmy’s 
defense solely for Ruth’s sake. Ruth had not 
wished the others to know of the difference be- 
tween herself and Emmy. Anne felt it incum- 
bent upon her to keep the subject away from 
dangerous ground. A quick glance at Ruth’s trou- 
bled face had revealed to her the fact that the 
former was taking the matter greatly to heart. 

“I suppose you are right, Anne.” Betty 
wagged her head gloomily. ‘ ‘ Emmy is different. ’ ’ 

“ She’ll get tired of Blanche before to-morrow 
noon,” predicted Jane, who had never admired 
the supercilious Miss Shirly. 


88 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ You oughtn’t to speak so of Blanche,” re- 
proved Anne gravely. “ You know, she’s a Camp 
Fire Girl, too.” 

“ History doesn’t record her joining,” retorted 
Jane. “ She only said she wanted to join last 
spring. That was because almost everyone else 
at Miss Belaire’s got the Camp Fire fever. She 
didn’t care to be left out.” 

“Now who is hard-hearted?” laughed Sarah. 

“I don’t care,” sputtered Jane angrily. 
“ After the trouble Ruth went to to get Emmy to 
join the Camp Fire Girls, it’s a shame that Blanche 
Shirly has to come along and spoil all our fun. 
You know what a : perfect dear Emmy can be if 
she chooses, but once she fixes her mind on a lot 
of social stunts she’ll stay at that old hotel and 
not bother to come out here.” 

“ No, she won’t.” Ruth Garnier broke into the 
conversation with a sudden confident ring in her 
voice that commanded attention. “ In the first 
place, Emmy can’t stay there alone without a 
chaperon. Her father and mother wouldn’t allow 
it, and she knows that.” 

“ That’s so,” agreed Betty. “ Emmy said yes- 
terday that her father and mother wouldn’t like 
it if they knew she had stayed alone at the hotel, 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


89 


even for a day or two. They told her to come 
straight to the cottage, but she waited for her 
car and for you.” 

“ Then she will be here to-morrow,” said Euth 
positively. “If she doesn’t come, we’d better 
go to the Inn in a body and bring her back with 
us.” 

“ I think it’s awfully rude in her to stay there 
even for one night with those Shirlys, when she 
had already accepted Betty’s invitation,” criti- 
cized Jane, regardless of Camp Fire ethics. 

“ Oh, never mind about that, Jane. I under- 
stand Emmy and so do you. She doesn’t mean 
to be rude. She’s just a person who is ruled by 
her inclinations. Actresses and singers and gen- 
iuses in general are simply brimming over with 
temperament. It goes with their talent and they 
can’t help it. One has to allow for it. That’s 
just what makes Emmy so fascinating.” There 
was a note of reverence in Betty’s voice as she 
made this generous statement. Her own yearn- 
ing for a stage career caused her to regard the 
eccentricities of all artists with extreme leniency. 
4 4 She will be heard in grand opera some day. Her 
voice is really wonderful. Then we’ll be glad that 
we even knew her.” 


90 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

* ‘ Lots of great artists are just like other peo- 
ple,” contested Jane stubbornly. 1 ‘My father 
says that temperament is only another word for 
plain temper. You’ve as much talent for acting 
as Emmy has for singing, Betty Wyndham, and 
you aren’t a bit that way.” 

“ I wish I were,” Betty sighed. “ If I had real 
temperament, perhaps I could convince father and 
mother that it was their duty to let me go on the 
stage. I’m so terribly ordinary and prosaic.” 

“Why don’t you develop one?” suggested 
Frances, with a mischievous giggle. “ You could 
rant and rave and tear your hair. That might 
help some. Or you might pretend to be absent- 
minded and go around wearing your clothes 
wrong-side out and quoting Shakespeare. There 
are a lot of other things that geniuses are sup- 
posed to do, only I don’t remember them just 
now.” 

Frances’ advice was provocative of wholesale 
laughter. The idea of stately Betty Wyndham 
stalking majestically about her home, hair awry, 
her clothing worn wrong side out, alternately rav- 
ing and quoting Shakespeare, was a joy to con- 
template. 

“I can imagine what would happen to me if 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


91 


I took your advice, Frances,” smiled Betty. “I’d 
be packed off to a sanitarium as hopelessly insane 
and spend my days there trying to convince my 
keepers that I wasn’t really what I seemed to 
be.” 

“Then I take it all back,” grinned Frances. 
“Not for worlds would I influence you thus to 
blast your young life. Didn’t I say that dramati- 
cally? Who knows? — I may yet be on the stage 
myself! ” 

“It’s more likely to be one of those stages 
that run from the Inn to the station,” was Sarah’s 
dampening comment. 

“ Sarah, my child, you have spoken the truth. 
I see you know me better than I know myself. I 
will abandon all thought of a stage career, but I 
will not abandon all thought of dinner. I’m get- 
ting very hungry. Lead me back to the Roost, 
most noble Betty, and feed me well.” Frances 
tottered toward Betty, stretching forth an ap- 
pealing hand. 

“You are a ridiculous girl and deserve to be 
ostracized from this happy band for making fun 
of my stage aspirations! Come along. I’ll con- 
duct you to the eats.” Seizing Frances’ hand 
Betty tucked it under her arm. “ We might as 


92 


The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

well about face,” she added. “ Those in favor 
of dinner please respond by saying ‘ aye! ’ ” 

The response came with a heartiness which 
showed conclusively that Emmy’s failure to ap- 
pear had not driven away the appetites of six 
hungry girls. 

“ What makes you so quiet, Marian?” ques- 
tioned Ruth, as the party turned their steps 
toward the Roost. “You never said a single word 
the whole time we were standing there.” 

“Ruth,” Marian’s pleasant face was preter- 
naturally solemn, “ I didn’t intend to say a word, 
but — well — I know what the matter is with your 
friend, Emmeline. She’s cross with you on 
account of me. She doesn’t like me. I saw it in 
her eyes the minute you introduced us. She feels 
that she has the first right to be with you and I 
can’t blame her. My coming here has been a mis- 
take. The girls have been perfectly sweet to me, 
and I’d love to stay, but I don’t think it would be 
fair to you. So to-morrow I’m going home. I’ll 
just say to Miss Wyndham that I have found it 
necessary to go back to Springfield. I’ll really go 
there, you know. You needn’t write your mother 
about it. You can explain to her when you go 
home. Perhaps I’ll come to Burton again, later. 


A Heart to Heart Talk 


93 


If I don’t, yon can pack my things and send them 
to me. I’ve been thinking it over and it’s really 
the best way.” 

“ Marian Selby! ” Ruth stopped short on the 
narrow trail and faced her cousin. They had 
fallen a trifle to the rear of the others. “ Do you 
suppose for one minute that I’d allow you to do 
any such thing? If I did, I’d deserve to be per- 
fectly miserable. I’ve loved to have you with me 
and I wouldn’t give you up even for Emmy. I 
can’t help telling you that you are right about 
her, though. She — is — well, she likes to have 
her own way. Being her roommate makes her 
feel as though I were a little more to her than the 
other girls. I’ve thought this over, too, and I’m 
sure I’d be wronging Emmy as well as you if 
I humored her. Sooner or later she’ll see her 
mistake, but until she does — well, you’ll oblige 
me greatly by staying right here with me. If 
you go home, I’ll go, too.” 

“You are splendid, Ruth.” Marian’s voice 
was husky. “I’m so proud to have you for my 
cousin. I’ll stay, because I know you wish me to, 
and I’m going to try my best to make your friend 
like me.” 

The ringing Camp Fire call, issuing from their 


94 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

companions, who were now some distance ahead 
of them, broke up the heart to heart talk. 

“ Come on,” urged Ruth. “ They’re calling 
us!” Ruth sent her clear voice in an echoing 
answer up the Pass. ‘ 1 Cheer up, cousin mine, 
and forget your troubles.” Her hand fell affec- 
tionately upon Marian’s shoulder. “ But don’t 
forget that, no matter what happens, you’ve prom- 
ised to stick! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


CHRISTENING THE PASS 

If Emmeline Cerrito had imagined that her 
conspicuous absence from their midst would act 
as an effectual damper upon the spirits of her 
associates, she would have been deeply chagrined 
at the matter-of-fact manner in which the mem- 
bers of the house-party accepted her decision to 
remain at the Inn. When a number of girls 
gather together for the express purpose of enjoy- 
ing themselves, they are not disposed to allow 
anything short of a tragedy to stand in the way 
of their pleasure. Youth has a fashion, little short 
of marvelous, of turning its back upon whatever 
promises to be disagreeable. It joyfully garners 
the wheat, leaving the chaff to the mercy of the 
winds. Once the expedition that had fared forth 
for the express purpose of meeting a dilatory 
comrade had been defeated in its object by Emmy 
herself, it halted no longer to bewail her loss, but 
turned its attention strictly to the business of 
enjoyment. 

When, after dinner that evening, Betty pro- 
95 


96 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

posed that the Pass should receive its official chris- 
tening, it was Ruth alone who mildly suggested 
that they postpone the event until the following 
evening. i ‘ Emmy will be here, you know, ’ ’ she 
reminded. 

“Why should we trouble ourselves about 
Emmy? ” demanded uncharitable Jane. “ She 
hasn’t bothered herself about us.” 

“Yery likely she’s hesitationing around the 
ballroom at the Inn as though she’d never even 
heard of that glorious band known as the Seven 
Savage Maidens,” shrugged Sarah. 

‘ 4 Seven Savage Maidens, sworn to play no tricks ; 

One broke her sacred word and then there were 
six! ” 

recited Frances with naughty inspiration. 

“ That’s rather hard on Emmy,” smiled Anne. 
“ Still — ” she hesitated. Even she did not quite 
agree with Ruth. 

“By all means let us have the christening,” 
Ruth hastened to say. The instant objection to 
her suggestion, coupled with a fleeting shadow of 
disapproval which she glimpsed in Betty’s eyes, 
though the law of hospitality sealed her lips, influ- 
enced Ruth to withdraw her mild proposal in fa- 
vor of one more pleasing to all. 


Christening the Pass 


97 


“Here’s where Marian can shine as a poet,” 
proposed Frances. “We ought to have some 
verses really worthy of the occasion. No ordi- 
nary efforts, like mine for instance, will do.” 

“Inspiration won’t come without help,” 
laughed Marian. “I’ll collaborate with you, 
Frances.” 

“ We will give you two distinguished geniuses 
half an hour to compose an ode,” said Betty. 
“We ought to smash our bottle of grape juice on 
the rocks before it grows dark. Then we can 
get the full effect. I’ll time you, and if you don’t 
produce something extraordinary in thirty min- 
utes you will lose your reputations as versifiers. 
On the desk at one end of the living room you’ll 
find pens and paper.” 

“ The shorter the time, the better the deed,” 
flung back the undaunted Frances as she and 
Marian scuttled to the living room to compose 
their ode. 

Frequent laughter from that vicinity soon in- 
formed those on the veranda that genius was in 
a wondrous merry mood. 

“I can prophesy beforehand just how fitting 
that ode will be,” remarked Jane, as Frances’ 
infectious chuckle was borne to her ears. 


98 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

From time to time Betty consulted her watch 
judicially. Two minutes before the thirty were 
up, the collaborators appeared, their faces 
wreathed with smiles. 

“ ’Tis done, the great transaction’s done!” 
Frances triumphantly waved a sheet of paper over 
her head. 

“ Wait until I go for the grape juice.” Betty 
rose and, disappearing into the house, soon re- 
turned, a quart bottle of grape juice tucked under 
one arm. 

“ Let’s march to the Pass in single file,” pro- 
posed Jane. “We must observe as much cere- 
mony as is befitting this auspicious occasion. Miss 
Wyndham, you are the guest of honor. As Buth 
is our highest rank Camp Fire official she will 
escort you to the Pass. Offer the lady your arm, 
Buth.” 

Buth laughingly complied. At Betty’s sugges- 
tion the guests had not changed their Camp Fire 
suits before dinner, so a solemn procession of 
blue-clad girls, single file, except for the gracious 
figure in white on Buth’s arm, wended its way 
with due dignity to the edge of the bluff where the 
last rays of the fast sinking sun touched the rocks 
with tender glory. Here Betty halted the com- 


Christening the Pass 99 

pany and mounting a good-sized stone prepared 
to hold forth. 

“ Ahem! ” Betty cleared her throat, adjusted 
her eyeglasses and declaimed with supreme dig- 
nity: “Illustrious followers of the noble Camp 
Fire and one distinguished aunt, I salute you! ” 

Sarah Manning snickered faintly at this unex- 
pected form of salutation. 

“ Silence! ” Betty fixed the irreverent Sarah 
with a stern eye. “We have gathered this eve- 
ning at this sacred spot to perpetrate a deed which 
will one day he recorded in the annals of our 
country’s history. We have not come in a spirit 
of levity.” She glared significantly at the offend- 
ing Sarah, who appeared to be on the verge of 
unseemly merriment. “We are animated and 
inspired by a lofty motive, and we are also 
equipped with a full-sized quart of irreproachable 
grape juice. It is eminently fitting that even the 
lowliest object should have a name. What’s in a 
name? More than appears on the surface. It 
therefore behooves us in the interest of suffering 
humanity to dignify this object of our united 
approbation with a handle which shall endure 
through the ages. Nor will we be satisfied with 
a common, ordinary appellation at which posterity 


100 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

may point a finger of scorn. Give us originality 
or give us death! ” 

She paused to allow the full effect of her ora- 
tion to sink in. 

“ Better that we should leap over the yawn- 
ing brink and batter our august persons on the 
cruel rocks below than to cover this beautiful 
spot with ignominy. But we are saved from such 
a wretched fate. The light of inspiration bums 
within our breasts and with the courage that dares 
to do, rather than to die, we have chosen a name 
that shall awaken the fervent admiration of the 
world ! But ere we bestow upon this hapless Pass 
that name at which the universe must awake and 
applaud, we will listen reverently to an ode com- 
posed by two stupendous modern geniuses. ’ ’ 

Betty stepped majestically down from her perch 
and motioned Frances to take her place. By this 
time the illustrious Camp Fire followers were in 
a fair way to end the solemn session with un- 
timely shrieks of laughter. Curiosity regarding 
the ode alone kept them within bounds. Not to 
be outdone, Frances assumed an attitude of dig- 
nity which she was far from feeling and began 
to read the stupendous effort of genius over which 
she and Marian had labored and giggled. 


Christening the Pass 101 

‘ Oh, say ! Can you see, toward the head of the 
Pass, 

A long line of maidens so gallantly streaming? 

Whose proud heads are erect as they toddle 
along, 

Heroic resolve from their faces now beaming. 

Though their shins they may bruise, 

And wear out their shoes, 

They’re hound on a mission that none may 
abuse, 

’Tis the naming committee in majesty brave, 

Quite crazy, but harmless, Oh, please let them 
rave! 

4 Now they pause to take breath on the towering 
steep, 

They have reached the dread heights without 
breaking their noses ! 

Triumphant they stand, an illustrious band, 

Assuming most graceful and dignified poses. 

For it’s really a shame 

That the Pass has no name, 

To send it along in the annals of fame. 

Oh, rescue it now from oblivion’s grave! 

Success to the namers — in peace let them rave ! 


102 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Oh, thus be it ever when names don’t go round, 

That namers shall rise in a fond aggregation, 

And for every lone object a name shall be found, 

Approved by a grateful and clamorous nation ! 

For name it we must; 

Our cause it is just, 

And that our selection’s a wise one, we trust. 

Oh, grant that no ill-natured vandal may rave ! 

Three cheers for the namers! Oh, long may 
they wave ! ’ ’ 

A shout of mirthful appreciation went up as 
Frances clambered down from the rock and lined 
up beside Marian. 

“Are we poet laureates, or are we not? ” she 
demanded. 

“ You are! ” came the united response. 

“ Thank you. Thank you.” Frances placed 
one hand on her heart and made an exaggerated 
bow. Marian laughingly followed suit. 

“ You’re both a credit to this organization and 
are hereby appointed chief rhymesters of the 
realm,” declared Betty. “Your poetic effort 
shall be preserved with the official records of the 
kingdom of Wanderer’s Boost.” 

“ This is more than we expected,” murmured 


Christening the Pass 


103 


Frances, bowing profoundly. “ On with the cere- 
monies ! Bring forth the fateful grape juice ! ” 

“ Here it is.” Betty held up the bottle. “ As 
Euth thought of the name for the Pass, it is her 
privilege to perform the christening act.” 

“ I think you ought to christen the Pass, Betty,” 
demurred Euth. 

For answer Betty shoved the bottle of grape 
juice into Euth’s reluctant hands. “I’ve only 
one suggestion to offer,” she laughed. “ Do try 
to hit that point of rock down there. Otherwise 
there will be no grand smash. ’ ’ 

1 ‘Here goes!” Euth poised the bottle high 
above her head. “ Beloved friends and fellow 
Camp Fire devotees,” she declaimed in an im- 
pressive voice, * 1 be it known to all concerned that 
I hereby solemnly proclaim and declare this his- 
toric spot to be known henceforth and forever- 
more as * Lookout Pass ’ ! ” With accurate aim 
she sent the bottle of grape juice hurtling through 
the air. It struck the rock fairly and with a 
resounding crash that released its purple con- 
tents, effectually baptising the portion of the Pass 
immediate to its vicinity. A shout of approbation 
burst forth from the christening party. Euth’s 
aim had left nothing to be desired. 


104: The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Now that weVe done our duty as loyal citi- 
zens, let’s go back to the Eoost and celebrate,” 
proposed Betty. “ There is plenty of grape juice 
left, and I know how to put it to good use. Lead 
the way, Ruth, with our guest of honor. Fall in, 
children. ’ 7 

“May I help you, Betty?” asked Marian 
eagerly. “ I know how to make grape-juice nec- 
tar. It’s perfectly delicious.” Her recent shy- 
ness forgotten, she felt herself to be, at last, one 
of this merry company of girls. She liked them 
all and she earnestly hoped they might in time 
like her. 

“Of course you may,” was Betty’s gracious 
response. 1 1 Let the mob sit on the veranda and 
lick their lips in expectation, while we descend 
on the humble kitchen and prepare the festal 
beverage. I hope it won’t be necessary to put a, 
* Busy 9 sign on the kitchen door.” 

“Not unless you keep us waiting too long,” 
stipulated Jane. “In that case we shall feel it 
our duty to appoint an investigating committee.” 

Jane’s investigating committee was not called 
upon to serve, however. Fifteen minutes after 
Betty and Marian vanished kitchenward, they 
returned, Betty bearing the results of their labor 


Christening the Pass 


105 


on a quaint Japanese tray. A united murmur of 
approbation greeted the sight of the tall glasses 
filled with a choice concoction of iced grape and 
orange juice, topped off by the tempting scarlet 
of bobbing cherries. Marian carried a silver dish 
of assorted French cakes which were also hailed 
with delight. 

When the tall glasses had been appreciatively 
drained and Jane and Frances had playfully 
squabbled over the last cake, Betty carried the 
empty husks of the feast indoors, returning with 
a mandolin. 

‘ ‘ Let’s have a sing,” she proposed. “It’s an 
ideal night for lifting up our voices.” Seating 
herself on the steps of the veranda, she began 
idly strumming the mandolin. Presently, with 
sure fingers she glided into the prelude of that 
timeworn favorite, “ My Old Kentucky Home,” 
and began softly to sing the pathetic, homely 
words. 

Voice after voice joined her, Anne singing the 
alto and Marian contributing a sweet high tenor 
that added immensely to the volume of sweet 
sound. 

“ Swanee Kiver,” directed Betty briefly, as the 
last note of the plaintive melody died away, and 


106 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

immediately began the accompaniment. Song 
after song followed, broken only by little snatches 
of discussion pertaining to that which was to be 
sung next. Even stately Miss Wyndham forgot 
her years and drifting back to girlhood sang as 
heartily as her young companions. Several Camp 
Fire Songs were given with great gusto, and it 
was after ten o ’clock when the impromptu musical 
ended with the inevitable, “ Good Night, Ladies.” 

* ‘ After that I begin to see visions of my little 
bed, ’ ’ yawned J ane. ‘ ‘ Far be it from me to break 
up the party, but, as our friend Rudyard Kipling 
beautifully puts it, ‘ 1 cannot howl all night and 
hunt all day.’ ” 

“ Perhaps we’d better turn in,” said Betty. 
“ Ruth and Marian must be just a little bit tired 
after their journey.” 

“ I am sleepy,” confessed Ruth, “but you 
couldn’t drive me to bed while there’s a good 
excuse for lingering out here in the moonlight.” 

“I love to moon, but, Oh, you bed! ” supple- 
mented Frances. 

In spite of Ruth’s protest against breaking up 
the veranda party, her frank admission of sleepi- 
ness bore immediate fruit, and a bedtime proces- 
sion of light-hearted girls soon climbed the stairs. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE GIN GEKBRE AD HOUSE 

It seemed to Ruth Gamier as though she had 
hardly closed her drowsy eyelids when she was 
awakened by a vigorous tattoo sounded on her 
door. “ Nine o’clock, Ruth! ” called Betty. 

‘ 1 Come in, Bettina ! ’ ’ Ruth scrambled out of 
bed, still blinking at the rush of yellow sunlight 
that poured cheerily in upon her. “Why — 
where’s Marian? ” was her question as Betty en- 
tered, looking fresh and trim in her Camp Fire 
skirt and middy blouse. 

“ Oh, she’s been up and doing for an hour,” 
smiled Betty. “You are last out this morning. 
Jane and Frances had dire designs on you, but 
I shooed them off. Now they are downstairs cla- 
moring to be fed. At least, they were loudly 
lamenting their breakfastless state when I left 
them to come up here.” 

“ I’ll get dressed at once.” Ruth reached for 
her stockings. “At home I’m always up at 
seven:, I’m a sure-enough lazybones this morn- 
ing.” 


107 


108 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

1 ( It ’s the mountain air, ’ ’ explained Betty. 6 6 At 
first it makes one awfully sleepy. You ’ll soon 
become acclimated. Speaking of Marian, Ruth, 
I am so glad you brought her. She is a splendid 
girl. I like her ever so much.” 

“ I am glad of that.” Ruth spoke with earnest 
sincerity. * 1 It was horrid in me to write to you 
of her as I did. I tried to make up for it in my 
second letter.” 

11 1 know just the way you felt at first,” sym- 
pathized Betty. “ I am sure I should have done 
the same.” 

“ I told Marian about my feeling as though I 
didn’t want her, but I couldn’t tell her about that 
letter, for fear of making her unhappy. ’ ’ 

“ She’ll never know about it from me,” Betty 
assured Ruth. 

Ruth would have liked to ask Betty if she had 
destroyed the letter which she knew to be un- 
worthy of herself, but courtesy forbade her to do 
so. She had small doubt, however, that it had 
long since been reduced to unreadable fragments 
and consigned to the wastebasket. 

“ I suppose Emmy will be here to-day,” re- 
marked Betty, as Ruth tied the lacings of her rub- 
ber-soled tennis shoes and wound her long brown 


The Gingerbread House 


109 


braid about her head, preparatory to making 
rather hasty ablutions before going on with her 
dressing. “ Since you and Marian are going to 
room together, Emmy can have my room. It is so 
pretty that I wanted the odd girl to have it as a 
consolation for having to room alone. That’s why 
I decided to go in with Aunt Louise. I hope Emmy 
will like it. It’s a darling room. Done in pink 
and white. Hurry up and we can take a look at 
it before breakfast.” 

Ruth needed no urging. As she vanished into 
the adjoining bathroom, the sound of running 
water, followed by a vigorous splashing, pro- 
claimed the fact that she was losing no time. Pres-' 
ently she reappeared, rosy and smiling, and 
quickly completing her toilet, the two girls set 
off for a peep at Betty’s room. With its creamy, 
rose-bordered rug, white maple furniture and 
dainty touches of pink, used to carry out the color 
scheme, it was even prettier than the blue room 
which she and Marian were occupying. 

“ Emmy ought to love this room!” Ruth 
clasped her hands in admiration. ‘ 4 Don’t you 
wish you could take it with you to Miss Bel- 
aire’s?” 

‘ ‘ I’ve often wished that,” sighed Betty. “I 


110 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

like it much better than my room at home. It 
seems a pity that I can spend so short a time in 
it. I came within a little of not having it at all this 
summer. With father in New York and mother 
in Colorado visiting her sister, things looked dubi- 
ous. I didn’t care to go West to visit, and so 
when I happened to think of having a house-party, 
mother said I might. Then Miss Drexal couldn’t 
come and I was in despair until Aunt Louise saved 
the day.” 

As they reached the dining room, the sound of 
voices from within revealed the knowledge that 
Miss Wyndham had come to the rescue of the 
hungry cottagers. 

“ We stole a march on you,” exulted Sarah 
Manning as they entered. “ Miss Wyndham 
found us wistfully hanging around the stairway, 
trying our best not to look hungry, and took pity 
on us/’ 

“It’s all my fault,” apologized Ruth. “To- 
morrow I’ll be up with the lark.” 

“ First locate your lark,” advised Frances. 

“ Would you know a lark if you heard one? ” 
inquired Jane. 

“ Being a Camp Fire girl, I ought to,” retorted 
Ruth. 


The Gingerbread House 


111 


‘ ‘ That is a direct evasion, ’ ’ arraigned Frances. 

“I decline to be interviewed,’ ’ laughed Ruth, 
‘ 1 and I defy the interviewer. ’ ’ 

“ Then I shall turn my attention to Jane. She 
loves to be interviewed. Don’t you, plain Jane? ” 

“Not until I’ve been fed,” was that young 
woman’s discouraging reply. 

The tempting breakfast, served by a trim maid, 
put an end to this fruitful discussion, and the 
breakfasters settled down to the meal with the 
healthy appetite which youth alone knows. 

“ What is the pleasure of this organization? ” 
inquired Betty, as, breakfast over, they repaired 
to the stretch of sloping lawn at the back of the 
cottage for a sun bath. 

“ I love the sun,” declared Anne Follett. “ If 
I had lived ages ago I ’m sure I ’d have been a sun 
worshipper.” 

“ And been offered up as a nice pink and white 
sacrifice,” jeered Frances. 

“ Oh, I’d have been a sun priestess and thus 
avoided such little difficulties,” returned Anne 
lazily. 

“ This would be a lovely morning for a swim,” 
suggested Betty with sudden inspiration. 
“There’s a little pond not far from here that 


112 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

makes a splendid swimming pool. We can put 
on our bathing suits here and scurry back to 
the Roost afterward. The pond is on the other 
side of that grove.’ ’ 

“ I can’t swim,” mourned Frances Bliss. 

“ Neither can I,” admitted Marian. 

“Then it’s high time both of you learned,” 
nodded Jane. “I should particularly love to 
instruct Frances in the first principles of the noble 
art of swimming.” 

“Promise not to duck me, then,” stipulated 
Frances, “ or I won’t set foot in the water.” 

“I promise.” Jane held up her right hand. 
“ Still, you couldn’t blame me if I did it acci- 
dentally.” 

“ I think I’ll stay on the bank and watch the 
rest of you,” decided Frances hastily. “The 
sight of J ane cavorting in the water might inspire 
me to verse.” 

“I haven’t the least doubt of it,” flung back 
Jane. “ These so-called poets are a lazy lot, any- 
way.” 

“ Marian, that includes you,” grinned Frances. 
“ Save our reputation and annihilate Jane.” 

“ ‘ Birds of a feather,’ you know,” replied Ma- 
rian. “ I think I’ll stay on the bank, too.” 


The Gingerbread House 


113 


u What about Emmy? ” reminded Anne. “ Sup- 
pose she arrives while we are gone ? 99 

“ I hadn’t thought of that.” Betty looked con- 
cerned. “ Oh, well, we shan’t be gone long. If 
she comes, Aunt Louise will take care of her. 
I’ve an extra bathing suit, if anyone wants it.” 

It developed, however, that the girls who had 
elected to go swimming were provided with suits, 
and a little later the bathing party, accompanied 
by Marian and Frances, wended their way across 
lots to the swimming pool. 

For a time the two distinguished poets amused 
themselves by standing on the bank and calling 
out ridiculous directions to the swimmers. But 
after Marian had narrowly missed falling into 
the pond, due to a crumbling bit of earth that 
gave way under her feet, and Frances had dex- 
terously escaped being dragged in by the irate 
Jane, at whom the major part of her pleasantries 
were directed, the discomfited bards wandered off 
disgustedly to seek for quieter and safer adven- 
tures. 

i ‘ I wonder who lives in that mite of a cottage 
over there?” speculated Frances. They had 
strolled quite out of sight of the bathers and were 
skirting the edge of a stump fence that bounded 


114 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

a stretch of green and steeply sloping pasture. 
Below and beyond the clearing’s farther edge, 
shaded by a grove of beech trees, so tall that 
they seemed fairly to overwhelm the little struc- 
ture set in their midst, the cottage that had at- 
tracted Frances’ attention looked almost like a 
playhouse. 

* ‘ It reminds one of the old witch ’s gingerbread 
house in ‘ Hansel and Gretel,’ doesn’t it? ” mused 
Marian. “ Perhaps if we watch we may see the 
witch herself. ’ ’ 

“ I love fairy tales,” responded Frances fer- 
vently. “ I’ve read Grimm’s and Andersen’s 
over and over.” 

* ‘ So have I . All my life I ’ve been disappointed 
because there aren’t really any fairies and demons 
and witches. That cottage doesn’t look as though 
anyone lived in it.” Marian squinted judicially 
at the dingy brown of the little house. 

“ Let’s go down to it and look in the window,” 
proposed Frances. “ If it’s empty we could get 
up a haunted house story to astonish the girls. ’ ’ 

“Very likely Betty would give us the laugh 
for our pains. She must know every landmark 
in this vicinity. But I don’t mind taking a look 
in the window.” 


The Gingerbread House 


115 


‘ ‘Come on. We’ll see what there is to see.” 
Frances propelled Marian rapidly toward the cot- 
tage, her mischievous mind intent on a blood- 
curdling yarn she was inventing out of whole 
cloth. She giggled joyfully as she imagined how 
seriously Jane would receive it. Jane was a firm 
believer in “ ha’nts.” 

Confident that the object of their speculation 
was untenanted, the inquisitive explorers advanced 
boldly upon it. Halting before one of the blurred, 
narrow-paned windows, across which a spider 
had painstakingly woven its web, they peered 
curiously in. 

“ Nothing but a few old sticks of furniture and 
a lot of dust!” exclaimed Frances disgustedly. 
“ No self-respecting witch would think of — ” 

The sudden pressure of a heavy hand on her 
shoulder caused her to wheel about with a cry of 
alarm. Marian was only the fraction of a sec- 
ond behind her. The two girls found themselves 
staring into a pair of wild black eyes that might 
easily have belonged to the fabled witch of the 
gingerbread house. 

“ Why you luke in my weendow? ” demanded 
a fierce voice. The grip on Frances’ shoulder 
tightened. 


116 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Frances’ brief consternation changed to anger. 
Exerting all her strength, she twisted herself free 
of the gripping fingers. 4 4 1 beg yonr pardon, ’ ’ she 
said haughtily. 44 We did not think that anyone 
lived here.” Despite her brave front, Frances 
experienced a thrill of positive terror as she con- 
fronted this strange apparition of broad daylight 
which had crept soundlessly upon them. She saw 
before her a tall, broad-shouldered woman of per- 
haps forty years, whose heavy black hair, strag- 
gling low on her forehead, accentuated the fero- 
cious gleam of her large, dark eyes, looking out 
from under heavy, scowling brows. 

The woman gave a short savage laugh. 44 Lies, 
all lies ! ’ 9 she exclaimed fiercely. 

A tide of angry color rose to Frances’ cheeks. 
4 4 We are not in the habit of saying what is not 
true,” was her stiff retort. 44 1 repeat, we did 
not think that this cottage was occupied. ’ ’ 

There was an ominous silence, during which 
the woman continued to regard the trespassers 
with sullen unbelief. 44 W’ere you leeve? ” she 
asked shortly. 

44 1 hardly think that concerns you,” broke in 
Marian quietly, a touch of defiance in her even 
tones. She was equally incensed at the attack 


The Gingerbread House 


117 


upon Frances’ veracity. She now eyed the tra- 
ducer unflinchingly. 

Her calm manner served only to enrage the 
already angry questioner. “ You spies!” she 
hissed. “ You try to — ” 

“ Why should we wish to spy upon you? ” cut 
in Marian sharply. “We are not in the least 
interested in you, nor do we wish to pry into your 
affairs. We will go — ” 

“ Yes; you go! ” interrupted the woman men- 
acingly. “ You come again, you he sorry! ” 

“ One call is enough, thank you,” Frances as- 
sured her with sarcastic emphasis. “Please ac- 
cept our most humble apologies for so rudely dis- 
turbing you. Come on, Marian.” Outwardly un- 
ruffled, Frances was by no means tranquil in mind. 
The woman might easily be an escaped lunatic. 
If so, a quick retreat was decidedly in order. 

‘ ‘ You go ! 9 9 The woman raised her long arms 
as though to shoo them off the premises they had 
so innocently invaded. “ You — ” 

A shrill wail uttered in an unmistakably child- 
ish voice caused the woman to whirl about as if 
electrified. Without so much as a backward glance, 
she sped toward the cottage, leaving the intruders 
to stare blankly after her. 


CHAPTER X 

THE HIKE TO SUNSET EOCK 

“ That sounded like the cry of a child.’ ’ Marian 
regarded Frances with growing consternation. 
“ What ought we to do? ” 

“ What can we do? ” Frances made a despair- 
ing gesture. “ The woman is on her own premises 
you know. It is we who are trespassers. She 
may be the mother of half a dozen children, all 
tucked away in that gingerbread house. Frankly, 
I thought she might be an escaped lunatic, but the 
fact that there is a child, or perhaps more than 
one, in the cottage, would seem to indicate that 
she’s just hateful.” 

4 ‘We’d better go on about our business, 
I guess,” concluded Marian wisely. “ The girls 
will wonder what has become of us. Betty may 
know the answer to all this.” 

It took them at least twenty minutes of brisk 
walking to reach the swimming pool, only to find 
it deserted. A line of familiar figures, climbing 
the slope behind the Roost, sent them hurrying 
after in a vain effort to catch up with their friends. 

118 


The Hike to Sunset Rock 


119 


“We may as well take our time,” grumbled 
Frances. They were still the length of a field 
from the Roost, into which the last member of 
the swimming party was just disappearing. “ I 
had thought up a hair-raising ‘ ha hit ’ story for 
Jane’s special benefit, and now my fun is spoiled.’ ’ 

“We could have a ghost party, anyhow,” 
planned Marian. “ Wait until some fine evening 
when it’s good and dark and the girls are all sit- 
ting around on the veranda. You and I will dress 
up in sheets and appear suddenly in their midst. 
Then you can tell your ghost story.” 

“That will be fine,” glowed Frances. “ If I 
can manage to lay hold of a pair of stilts, it will 
certainly add to the effect.” 

A shrill halloo from Jane’s window interrupted 
further planning. J ane had draped herself across 
the window sill and leaning far out was making 
frantic signals to them to hurry. “ Get a move 
on, you slowpokes,” she called. “ We are going 
on a picnic hike to Sunset Rock and we can’t wait 
all day for two lagging, languishing, lackadaisical 
poets! ” 

“ So glad you told us.” Frances paused under 
the window and beamed up at Jane. “ Thank you 
for them kind words.” 


120 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ You’re welcome. Hurry up!” Jane disap- 
peared from the window with a promptness that 
cut off a further exchange of repartee. 

‘ 1 Why, where ’s plain J ane 1 ’ ’ demanded 
Frances in pretended amazement when, half an 
hour later, the swimming party gathered on the 
veranda for the start. They were now attired 
in their Camp Fire suits, with the exception of 
the regulation blouses, which they had discarded 
in favor of the cooler middy blouse. As Marian 
and Frances had no preparations to make, they 
had calmly seated themselves in the big porch 
swing to await the others. 

“ She’ll be here in a minute. She broke her 
shoe lace,” informed Anne. 

Frances received this news with a joyous 
chuckle. Slipping out of the porch swing she 
darted into the house and took up her position 
at the foot of the stairs. 

“Get a move on,” she ordered jubilantly, as 
Jane appeared at the head of the stairway. “ We 
are going on a picnic hike to Sunset Rock and 
we can’t wait all day for a poking, provoking, 
prosaic, procrastinating Pellew person! ” 

“You stole that out of the Thesaurus,” ac- 
cused J ane as she descended. 


The Hike to Sunset Bock 


121 


‘ * Never ! I haven ’t seen one for months. Your 
mind is wandering. Not one of those endearing 
terms is synonymous. Besides, I defy you to find 
* Pellew ’ in any Thesaurus that was ever put to- 
gether.” 

“ What’s happening here? ” Attracted by the 
sound of voices, Sarah Manning poked her head 
in the doorway. “ I might have known! ” She 
assumed an expression of deep boredom and dis- 
appeared, leaving the talkative pair to continue 
their argument. Their immediate appearance on 
the veranda, arm in arm, seemed a patent indi- 
cation that some sort of truce had been declared. 

“ i What are we waiting for, oh, my heart! ’ 99 
trilled Anne, as Betty mumbled something about 
wishing someone would hurry. 

6 ‘ For the eats, of course. What is a hike with- 
out eats ? It ’s almost noon now and it will be after 
two before we reach the end of our climb. Our 
cook is packing the luncheon in two small hampers. 
We ’ll have to take turns carrying them. At last ! ’ ’ 
Betty breathed relief as Mary, the maid, ap- 
peared, a well-filled basket in each hand. 

An animated discussion arose regarding the dis- 
posal of the hampers, and the procession finally 
set off with one of the precious baskets swing- 


122 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

iug between Betty and Ruth, while Frances and 
Marian, who were becoming hourly more chummy, 
were entrusted with the care of the other. From 
the moment of their tardy return to the Roost mat- 
ters had proceeded at such a lively rate that there 
had been no opportunity for either girl to ques- 
tion Betty regarding the dingy brown cottage and 
its mysterious occupants. They discussed this as 
they tramped along and at Marian’s suggestion it 
was agreed between them that the recital of their 
curious adventure should be saved until luncheon 
time. 

4 4 Good gracious!” exclaimed Frances, with a 
little start of recollection, 44 I wonder if Betty 
forgot about Emmy? ” 

4 ‘Didn’t you hear her telling the girls that 
Emmy telephoned, while we were at the swimming 
pool, that she wouldn’t be with us until late to- 
morrow afternoon? ” asked Marian. 

4 4 No. Where was I that I missed that? Oh, l 
know. It must have been when I was hanging 
about the stairway waiting to get even with Jane. 
What’s come over Emmy, I wonder? She has 
always had her queer moods, but I never before 
knew her to be quite so aggravating. ” 

Marian might easily have shed light on the 


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The Hike to Sunset Rock 


123 


subject. Instead, she held her peace, managing 
to direct the conversation into other channels. 

The climb up the steeps to Sunset Rock proved 
itself to be a hike indeed, and it was considerably 
past two o’clock when, with sparkling eyes and 
flushed faces, the Camp Fire Girls gained the wel- 
come bit of table land from which they were able 
to descend to the flat surface of the great Rock 
itself, where it jutted from the cliff. But the effort 
had been well worth while, for the magnifi- 
cent view obtainable only from such heights, burst 
upon them in its full glory, rendering them speech- 
less with sheer wonder and admiration. 

“ I never even dreamed it would be like this.” 
It was Anne who broke the hush that had fallen 
upon the merry company. Her small hands were 
clasped in worshipful rapture, as her brown eyes 
drank in the supreme grandeur of the blue and 
purple hills which seemed to print their bold out- 
lines against the cloudless sky. It was an un- 
usually clear day, and there was no suspicion of 
mist to hide the long perspective of the valley 
below, and far beyond where that perspective 
opened out to the flat plain, a thread-like gleam 
of blue that was the Hudson, flowing beneath the 
long level line of the Palisades. 


124 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ ‘To him who in the love of Nature holds 

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 

A various language/ ” 

quoted Ruth softly. An ardent worshiper of the 
great outdoors, she could think of nothing more 
fitting to express the emotion that welled within 
her. 

1 ‘ Bryant certainly knew what he was talking 
about, ’ ’ declared matter-of-fact J ane, wagging her 
head with vigorous emphasis. “No wonder he 
was called the ‘ Nature Poet .’ 99 Her sharp black 
eyes were glowing with eager appreciation. 

6 ‘ He must have lived very close to the heart of 
outdoors, or he couldn’t have written so wonder- 
fully,” was Betty’s tribute. 

1 6 Poets are supposed to see marvelous things 
to which mere ordinary mortals are blind ,’ 9 said 
Sarah sentimentally. 

“ Some poets never see anything except a chance 
to ridicule their friends,” retorted Jane pointedly, 
her recent Nature worship falling away before this 
splendid opportunity to direct a shot at purely 
local bards. It was too good to be lost. 

This unexpected leap from the heights on Jane’s 
part brought reverent communion with Nature’s 
visible forms to an untimely end. 


The Hike to Sunset Rock 


125 


“ Just depend upon plain Jane to bring us back 
to earth with a jolt,” commented Frances dis- 
gustedly. “I defy anyone to commune with 
Nature when she’s on the scene. I had just com- 
posed two whole lines of real worth, when she 
interrupted my train of thought.” 

“ Let’s hear you say them,” challenged Jane. 

“ I can’t remember them,” confessed Frances. 
“ Your brutal attack upon Marian and me drove 
them out of my mind. ’ ’ 

“I merely said ‘some poets.’ I didn’t men- 
tion names. If the coat had been a misfit you 
wouldn’t have put it on in such a hurry.” 

“ You girls remind me of Tennyson’s ‘ Brook- 
let.’ It went on forever, you know,” insinuated 
Sarah with her ever-ready giggle. 

“I feel as though I’d been going on forever 
without anything to eat,” remarked Betty plain- 
tively. “ Since Nature worship has been reduced 
to revelry, we might as well crown the outrage 
by having luncheon.” 

“ I am with you, noble sister,” agreed Frances 
with unabashed alacrity. ‘ ‘ Bring forth the eats. ’ ’ 

“You’re responsible for one half of them,” 
slyly reminded Ruth. 

“Here they are, right side up with care.” 


126 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Frances sprang for the hamper which she had 
deposited on the ground within convenient reach, 
and handed it to Betty with a flourish. 

“ Don’t imagine for a minute that we are going 
to have luncheon here,” announced Betty. “ One 
careless backward step would end someone’s 
promising career. I know a better and a decidedly 
safer place than this.” 

Following Betty’s lead they retraced their steps 
past an enormous white hotel and into the natural 
woods beyond, where presently they came into a 
pleasant little dell, ideally suited to the needs of 
picnickers. 

From her hamper Betty then brought forth a 
tablecloth, paper napkins and several collapsible 
drinking cups. Dainty sandwiches, composed of 
chicken, olives, cheese and ham, followed them. 
“Get busy and unpack your hamper,” she 
directed. Frances obeyed. Soon a goodly array 
of the various toothsome comestibles best calcu- 
lated to meet the approval of seven hungry Camp 
Fire Girls was set out on the snowy cloth. Betty 
had laid it on a large flat rock which served admir- 
ably for a table. The girls needed no second invi- 
tation to the feast. Seating themselves Turk 
fashion about the rock, they devoted themselves 


The Hike to Sunset Rock 


127 


strictly to the business of eating, to a running 
accompaniment of merry talk, punctuated by fre- 
quent bursts of laughter. 

“ Some spread! ” lauded Sarah as she helped 
herself to a particularly delectable chocolate- 
covered cake. “This is positively my last. I 
couldn’t eat another mouthful even to please 
Jane.” 

“ The less there is for you, the more there is for 
me,” parried Jane. “I have dark designs on 
those cakes, too.” 

“Eat them all, girls,” urged Betty. “We 
don’t want any excess baggage going home.” 

“Betty,” began Frances with an abruptness 
that shattered the indolent attitude of relaxation 
into which the picnickers had fallen after their 
meal, “who lives in that lonely scrap of a cot- 
tage, away over the other side of the swimming 
pool? You must know the one I mean. It’s 
painted, or rather it was once painted, brown, 
and it’s completely hedged in by tall beech trees.” 

Betty flashed a somewhat startled glance at 
Frances. Then she laughed. “ Now I know where 
you and Marian went this morning. You were 
poking around the haunted cottage.” 

“ Haunted cottage! ” was the united cry. 


128 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Betty nodded. “ Yes, we’re supposed to have a 
ghost in our vicinity. It ’s really all nonsense. A 
long while back, so the story goes, a man and his 
wife lived there. Then the woman disappeared 
mysteriously. The husband had been very cruel 
to her and had made threats against her life. The 
authorities took up the case and the man was 
accused of being responsible for her disappear- 
ance. He was arrested, but they couldn’t prove 
a thing against him. So they let him go. He went 
back to the cottage and lived there for a while. 
Then one night a farmer met him running down 
the road, raving and shouting that his wife had 
come back to haunt him. He was crazy, of course, 
and was put in an insane asylum. But the coun- 
try people declared that the house is haunted and 
that late at night a tall white figure sometimes 
comes out of the cottage and walks in and out 
among the trees, wringing its hands and moaning. 
It’s just a silly story. Ho one has ever been 
found who actually saw the ghost. It’s one of 
those spooky tales that start from nothing and 
keep on going. But nobody cares to live there, 
so it’s been empty for ages, ’ ’ finished Betty, shrug- 
ging her shoulders in contempt for the supersti- 
tious story. 


The Hike to Sunset Rock 129 

Frances and Marian exchanged significant 
glances. 

“ Humph! ” ejaculated Frances. “ We saw a 
very lively ghost there this morning. Didn’t we, 
Marian ? ’ ’ 

“ What do you mean? ff 

Frances plunged into a vivid account of their 
morning adventure, turning occasionally to 
Marian for corroboration. 

“ That’s the queerest thing I ever heard .’ y 
Amazement stared from Betty’s eyes. 

“ Too queer to be fact,” asserted Jane mean- 
ingly. 1 ‘ You must have fallen asleep by the road- 
side and dreamed it, Frances.” 

“ My dear Jane, I may have my faults, but I 
solemnly assure you that, in this instance, George 
Washington and I are one. I forgive you, Jane, 
but I am deeply hurt.” Frances’ wide smile 
scarcely indicated a mortal wound to her feelings. 
Her face suddenly sobering, she said: “ The only 
part of the whole affair that bothered me was 
hearing that child cry.” 

“ The woman must have been the child’s mother, 
though,” argued Betty. “ The very fact that she 
ran off and left you when she heard it cry, would 
seem to prove that. ’ ’ 


130 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

i 1 If you had seen her you would understand why 
we felt worried/ ’ broke in Marian, shuddering 
slightly as she recalled the stranger’s fierce, hard 
face and savage manner. 

“ When we get hack to the Roost, I’ll make it 
my business to find out who she is and all about 
her,” promised Betty. “ I don’t know who owns 
the cottage, but I can inquire. Whoever this 
woman may be, it’s certain she doesn’t believe in 
ghosts. Quite likely we shall learn that she is 
some very poor person with half a dozen children 
who has been able to rent the cottage for almost 
nothing. It has been vacant so long that no doubt 
the owner was willing to rent it for a song. ’ ’ 

Betty’s prosaic supposition concerning the mys- 
terious tenant of the haunted cottage served, in 
a measure, to lessen the excitement which Frances’ 
tale had aroused. Even Frances herself admitted 
rather sheepishly that they might have been mak- 
ing a mountain of a mole hill. But, although she 
made no comment, Marian was not of that opinion. 
She was a keen observer, and, for her years, pos- 
sessed considerable insight into human nature. 


CHAPTER XI 


AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT 

The morning after the hike to Sunset Rock 
found the house-party awake in good season hut 
scarcely in the mood for stirring deeds. Although 
no one would confess to being in the least tired 
after yesterday’s strenuous climb, a slight re- 
action had set in. Anne’s proposal that they 
spend the day at home, devoting it to reading, writ- 
ing letters, or similar pastimes that would call 
for no great amount of physical effort, met with 
no dissenting voice. At Betty’s earnest solicita- 
tion “ not to bother to dress up for breakfast,” 
kimonos and negligees had been strictly in order 
that morning. In their bright-hued, half-fitted 
gowns of soft silk the girls made a pretty pic- 
ture as they lounged about the living room. 

“ I’m .going to shampoo my hair,” announced 
Betty Wyndham with a sudden access of energy, 
as she rose from the deep-seated leather chair in 
which she had been indolently reclining, and saun- 
tered toward the living room door. 4 4 Anyone care 
to join me?” 


131 


132 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ I believe I will.” Anne laid down her mag- 
azine and strolled after Betty. “It won’t take 
long to dry it. The sunshine is glorious.” 

“ We’ll sit on that rustic bench in the back yard 
and get the full effect of the sun, ’ ’ declared Betty. 

“Jane and I will hang out the window and 
sing ‘ The Lorelei,’ ” promised Frances. “ It will 
be a splendid chance to find out if Anne’s hair is 
really her own. She says it is, but — ” 

“I won’t engage in any such prying enter- 
prise,” flatly refused Jane. “I’m going to write 
to my father and I warn you not to disturb me, 
Frances Bliss.” 

“ ‘ Assume a virtue if you have it not,’ ” jeered 
Frances. “ Now, to continue my discourse on the 
subject of Anne’s hair. She says it is, but — ” 
Frances appeared to quail beneath Jane’s wither- 
ing eye, “ — we all know it without having to be 
told! ” 

“You are a quitter,” accused Jane with fine 
scorn. “ That is not what you intended to say.” 

“What else could I possibly say?” Frances 
looked the picture of bland innocence. ‘ t It pains 
me to believe, Jane, that you are harboring un- 
just suspicions against Anne.” 

“ It pains me to listen to such nonsense,” flung 


An Embarrassing Moment 


133 


back Jane. “ If I were you, Anne, I’d demand 
an explanation.” 

Anne and Betty bad lingered in the doorway to 
listen. Engaged in energetic argument, Jane and 
Frances were highly diverting. 

“ That would only complicate matters and de- 
lay operations, ’ ’ laughed Anne. ‘ ‘ Secure in the 
knowledge that I am what I seem, even to my 
much-maligned tresses, I can afford to overlook 
the rude insinuations of certain malicious persons 
whose names I am too polite to mention.” With 
this parting shot Anne and Betty disappeared 
from sight to begin their self-imposed task. 

“ That’s us,” chuckled Frances with a fine dis- 
regard for English. 

‘ 6 Speak for yourself. ’ ’ J ane declined to rise to 
the bait. Ignoring her opponent’s hopeful eye 
she marched from the room and up the stairs to 
write her letter, leaving Frances to mourn her 
departure in loud and emphatic tones. 

“Do be quiet, Frances,” implored Sarah. 
“How can one read when you keep up such a 
frightful din? ” 

“I’m merely mourning for Jane,” defended 
Frances. “ Now that she’s gone, I have lost my 
chief source of amusement. ’ ’ 


134 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Haven 't yon any letters that need answer- 
ing? " was Sarah's innocent inquiry. 

“I have, but they won't be answered to-day. 
You can't get rid of me by that method. How- 
ever, I am nothing if not agreeable. I will, there- 
fore, remove my noisy presence and leave you in 
peace. I'm going upstairs to effect a much-needed 
reform. I am about to begin a busy little session 
with my trunk. I haven't been able to find a 
thing that I wanted, when I wanted it, since I 
came." Frances departed on her crusade of order, 
while the three remaining occupants thankfully 
congratulated themselves on the prospect of a 
quiet hour. 

Meanwhile Betty and Anne had repaired to the 
bathroom, shampooed their respective brown and 
golden locks to their own satisfaction, and had 
betaken themselves to a rustic bench at the foot 
of the lawn behind the Boost, there to allow the 
warm sunshine and gently stirring breezes to do 
their perfect work. Their faces turned toward 
the house, their long hair streaming out behind 
them, the two girls conversed in low, absorbed 
tones. Intent upon their own affairs they gave 
no heed to the chugging sound of a motor car 
that was being driven rapidly in the direction 


An Embarrassing Moment 


135 


of the Boost. It was not until the murmur of 
feminine voices, supplemented by deeper, mascu- 
line tones, assailed their ears, that the pair awoke 
to the knowledge that unexpected visitors were 
about to descend upon them. 

“Oh!” Betty sprang to her feet in alarm, 
gave one despairing glance at the approaching 
callers and set off on a run for the house, an ani- 
mated flash of blue on the peaceful landscape. 
Anne, too, displayed remarkable sprinting powers, 
her long golden hair and green silk draperies flut- 
tering a signal of dismay as she gained the shelter 
of the Roost. The open door of the stairway 
revealed to her the way Betty had taken. Anne 
prepared to follow her, then remembering the 
kimono-clad company they had left lounging in 
the living room, she dashed to their rescue. 

“Hurry upstairs and make yourself present- 
able, girls ! ” she exclaimed. “ Emmy has arrived 
at last with Blanche Shirly, her mother and two 
young men ! ’ ’ 

The reading circle broke up in a wild rush for 
the stairs. 

“ Can you beat that? ” demanded Sarah slang- 
ily, as she mounted the stairs at Ruth’s heels. 

It was left to Frances to do the honors, how- 


136 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

ever. On going to her room she had proceeded to 
dress for the day, before overhauling her trunk. 
At the sound of rushing feet on the stairs she 
had desisted from her labor long enough to peer 
curiously out into the hall. 

At sight of her, voices were lifted in relieved 
acclamation. In her dainty gown of pink linen 
with its wide lace collar and cuffs, Frances, at 
least, was prepared for all comers. 

“ Go down stairs, Frances, and make yourself 
useful,” begged Anne. “ You are sufficiently orna- 
mental. Emmy’s here with the Shirlys and two 
young men. Never again, even in this sequestered 
spot, shall anyone persuade me to appear outside 
my room negligee. They nearly caught Betty and 
me. We had to run for our lives.” She glanced 
toward Betty’s closed door, where the latter was 
performing a lightning-change dressing feat that 
would have inspired envy in the breast of a vau- 
deville artist. Unluckily for her, Miss Wyndham 
had accepted an invitation to go motoring with a 
party of friends and had departed directly after 
breakfast. 

“ Anything to he obliging.” Frances threw up 
her hands with a gesture of resignation and hur- 
ried downstairs to receive the guests, who, hav- 


An Embarrassing Moment 137 

ing witnessed the wholesale flight of the two gayly- 
garbed figures on the bench, had now paused on 
the lawn to await developments. 

“ Good morning, Emmy,” greeted Frances, 
hastening toward the group. “How do you do, 
Blanche ? We were surprised to hear that you had 
come up to the Catskills.” She extended her 
hand to the latter, who gave her the tips of her 
fingers. Attired in a smart frock of natural pon- 
gee, elaborately trimmed with heavy, expensive 
lace insertion, her auburn hair tortured into an 
extreme coiffure of ultra-modern fashion, Blanche 
Shirly looked far older than her years. 

“ How are you? ” she drawled languidly. “ This 
is my mother, Miss Bliss.” She then pre- 
sented the two young men, Mr. Darwood and Mr. 
Holt, to Frances. “ It was such a beautiful day 
for motoring, and Emmy was so insistent upon our 
accompanying her, that we decided to pay Betty a 
call. I hope we haven ’t intruded.” Her tone did 
not indicate special regret for the intrusion. 

“ Betty will be with you in a moment,” Frances 
made answer. She was too honest by nature to 
protest that the arrival of these unexpected callers 
was a matter for great rejoicing. Neither did 
she feel called upon to allude to Betty’s precipi- 


138 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

tate flight. She could not help thinking, however, 
as her eyes rested on the dumpy, overdressed Mrs. 
Shirly, with her pale blue eyes and florid, arro- 
gant face, that Blanche came honestly by the snob- 
bishness which had made her so unpopular while 
at Miss Belaire’s. As for the two young men, 
they were of the well-dressed, vacant-faced type 
that is always to be found at summer hotels where 
money outweighs intrinsic worth. 

“ Betty expected me this morning, did she 
not? ” inquired Emmeline Cerrito with barbed 
sweetness. Outwardly suave and smiling, Emmy 
was furious within at the reception accorded her- 
self and her friends. The fact that she had taken 
the liberty of bringing them with her, had arrived 
unannounced and from a direction on which her 
hostess had not reckoned, mattered little to her. 
What did matter, however, was the lack of cere- 
mony which attended her arrival. Embued with a 
sense of her own importance, she had delayed her 
appearance at the Boost for the express purpose 
of showing the members of the house-party that 
she was indispensable to its happiness. It angered 
her to find at least two of them placidly going 
about their own affairs. No doubt the others were 
too busily engaged to trouble themselves about 


An Embarrassing Moment 


139 


her. Ruth, in particular, might have exerted her- 
self to keep a lookout. It was quite probable that 
Marian was absorbing her attention. These dark 
thoughts surged through Emmy’s brain as she 
asked the question, solely with a view toward belit- 
tling Betty in the eyes of the callers. 

“ I understood Betty to say that you would be 
here later in the day.” Frances’ voice was coolly 
polite. She did not relish the reproach against 
her hostess which Emmy’s bland question implied. 
“ Here she comes now.” Frances looked slightly 
relieved. Stately Betty could be relied upon to 
manage her own affairs without assistance. 

In her crisp white gown, her lately-flowing hair 
smoothly coiffed, eye-glasses at their proper angle, 
Betty was the acme of dignity as she came grace- 
fully forward to receive her guests. Greetings 
and introductions over, she conducted her visitors 
around one side of the house to the veranda, apol- 
ogizing to them now for her aunt’s absence with 
a self-possession quite admirable in one who had 
so recently been put to flight by their approach. 
The remaining girls of the house-party, irre- 
proachably gowned, soon appeared on the veranda, 
but in spite of the sedulous effort they put forth 
to be polite, a spirit of levity lurked underneath 


140 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

that was ready to break forth at the first chance 
word. While upstairs, Anne had described to them 
the mad dash for the house which she and Betty 
had been obliged to make, and the memory of it 
lingered. 

Despite her air of gracious self-possession, 
Betty was dubious regarding the advisability of 
offering an excuse for herself and Anne. She 
wondered what her callers might think if she made 
no reference to their flight. She was equally cer- 
tain, however, that her first words would result in 
evoking a riot of laughter from her chums which 
would be disconcerting, to say the least. She de- 
cided that discretion lay in silence, so far as cer- 
tain things were concerned, and proceeded to 
adhere strictly to safe and impersonal topics of 
conversation. 

Her endeavor to play the perfect hostess did 
not meet with the most gratifying results. Blanche, 
who at school had evinced a decided preference 
for masculine society, was too deeply engaged in 
absorbing the attention of the dark-haired young 
man, Mr. Darwood, to interest herself in her school 
friends. The other young man had eyes for no 
one except Emmy, who encouraged his pronounced 
devotion out of pure perversity. She knew that 


An Embarrassing Moment 


141 


Ruth disliked anything bordering on sentimen- 
tality and therefore set out to annoy her. The 
burden of the conversation was, therefore, directed 
to Mrs. Shirly, who was interested in little outside 
of the social life at Haines Falls, and who ex- 
pressed a candid disapproval of an organization 
such as the Camp Fire Girls, which, according to 
her views, encouraged its members to run wild 
and indulge in all sorts of hoydenish pastimes. 
Blanche had been quite enthusiastic over it when 
she came home from school, hut she had now, very 
sensibly, discarded all idea of joining. 

Altogether, it was a most uncomfortable ses- 
sion that the hitherto congenial house-party spent 
on the veranda and no one was sorry when the 
callers signified that they must return to the Inn. 

“ I hope you have come to stay, Emmy,” said 
Betty cordially as the visitors rose to depart. 

Emmy’s unfathomable dark eyes rested for an 
instant on Ruth. Something in the latter’s frank 
gaze caused her to color slightly. She knew she 
was behaving in a manner unworthy of the better 
self that a year’s association with Ruth h$d 
brought to life and developed. Acting on a swift 
impulse of contrition she replied, “Yes, I am 
going to stay. I can telephone for my trunk. ’ ’ 


142 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

‘ ‘ But you told us you were going back, ’ 9 broke 
in Blanche Shirly, her eyebrows lifting in dis- 
pleased surprise. 

‘ ‘ I have changed my mind . 9 9 An expression of 
willfulness touched Emmy’s red lips that Blanche 
had come to learn, even in the past two days, was 
not to be opposed. To contest it would entail 
a decided loss of smug dignity on her part, and 
in the end she would not win her point. 1 ‘ Mr. 
Holt will drive my car back. Won’t you, Mr. 
Holt? ” 

‘ ‘ I shall be delighted, ’ ’ smirked the young man. 
Nevertheless, he looked rather blank at this sud- 
den dismissal. “ But we shall miss you.” He 
cast a languishing glance at Emmy which caused 
Frances to pinch the unoffending Jane, who stood 
beside her. May it be said to Jane’s credit that 
she made no outcry. She mentally registered a 
long black mark against her tormentor, resolving 
to return the pinch with interest at the earliest 
opportunity. 

Emmy made no rejoinder to this remark beyond 
a quick shrug of her graceful shoulders. With 
that lightning change of mood which so character- 
ized her, she appeared to lose interest in the return 
party. Accompanied by Betty she saw them to 


An Embarrassing Moment 


143 


the automobile and watched them drive off as 
though almost impatient to behold the last of them. 

“I’m glad they have gone,” was her calm state- 
ment, as she viewed the rapidly disappearing auto- 
mobile. “ They were determined to come,” she 
added almost apologetically. To Betty’s amaze- 
ment, her beautiful, moody face broke into smiles. 
They had turned to go back to the Roost and were 
passing the rustic seat of disaster. “ Betty Wynd- 
ham, as long as I live I’ll never forget the way 
you and Anne galloped across that lawn in your 
kimonos, your hair flying out behind you. If was 
too funny for words.” Emmy sat down on the 
seat and rocked to and fro with mirth. Her recent 
ill humor had mysteriously taken wing. 

* ‘ I was afraid you ’d be angry, Emmy, ’ ’ apol- 
ogized Betty, “ and I didn’t dare mention our 
dash to cover out there on the veranda, for fear 
of raising a laugh and offending the Shirlys and 
your friends. You know how the girls act when 
anything strikes them as funny.” 

4 i I know. ’ ’ Emmy ceased to laugh and was 
strangely silent for a moment. It had come to 
her forcibly that after all she preferred the com- 
pany of these light-hearted girls to the society of 
anyone else whom she knew. 


CHAPTER XII 


AN INNOCENT TROUBLE MAKER 

It was an agreeable surprise to the girls who 
had chosen to remain on the veranda, rather than 
accompany the departing guests to the automo- 
bile, to hear Emmy’s musical laugh ring out as 
she and Betty strolled into view from around the 
corner of the house. Courtesy not demanding it, 
they had been wholly content to cut their polite 
farewells to the callers as short as possible. Even 
sweet-tempered Ruth had been slightly ruffled at 
Emmy’s provoking manner. She knew it had been 
assumed especially to annoy her. She reflected 
resentfully that she wouldn’t care much if Emmy 
should decide to go back to the Inn. Emmy’s 
altered demeanor, however, was another matter. 
At the first sound of her laughing voice, Ruth 
felt the old liking for her roommate sweep over 
her with a rush. 

“ Come and sit in the swing with me, Emmy,” 
she smilingly invited, patting the vacant space be- 
side her. 

Emmy obeyed without the slightest show of hes- 

144 


An Innocent Trouble Maker 145 

itation. Her bored manner bad vanished, and 
her changeful face was lighted with an expres- 
sion of smiling good humor. 

“It’s great to be here,” she said, slipping her 
arm through Ruth’s. “I am glad I didn’t go 
back with the Shirlys.” 

“ I am glad you didn’t, too,” was Ruth’s hearty 
response, and she really meant it. She experienced 
an inward qualm of conscience for her brief 
resentment against Emmy. 

‘ 4 What have you been doing since you came up 
here? ” inquired Emmy curiously. 

Ruth responded to her question with a voluble 
account of all that had befallen the house-party 
since her arrival at Wanderer’s Roost. “ You 
will love Betty’s aunt, Miss Wyndham,” she pre- 
dicted. ‘ 1 She is the very nicest sort of person to 
chaperon a house-party. We have planned to 
take hikes to a lot of interesting places around 
here that Betty knows about. How that you are 
really here at last, there will be no odd girl. We 
can hike in couples.” 

“ Then I choose you for my partner,” returned 
Emmy quickly. Her dark eyes strayed for an 
instant toward Marian, who was engaged in laugh- 
ing discussion with Jane and Frances. 


146 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Ruth nodded smilingly, though she noted the 
glance and divined Emmy’s thought. She hoped 
that with the return of her roommate’s good 
humor, her brief jealousy of Marian had vanished, 
not to obtrude itself again. 

Yielding to the fascination which when in a 
gracious mood Emmy could always exert over 
them, the girls gathered around her, plying her 
with good-natured questions about herself and the 
Shirlys. Always in her element when the center 
of attraction, she soon had them laughing over a 
ridiculous imitation of the irate Mrs. Shirly try- 
ing to arouse the sleepy and slothful Blanche to 
action, on the morning after the hop, before the 
breakfast room closed. 

“ I suppose it isn’t quite fair to laugh behind 
the backs of one’s callers,” apologized Betty, 
“ but really, I can’t help it.” 

i i It’s just as fair to do that as it was for Mrs. 
Shirly to speak so slightingly of the Camp Fire 
Girls,” contested Jane stoutly. “ Thanks to her 
mother, Blanche seems to have laid aside all notion 
of joining. When we left school she was crazy 
to be one of us. ’ ’ 

“ Blanche is too busy with thinking about 
clothes and dances and men to be a helpful addi- 


An Innocent Trouble Maker 147 

tion to the Camp Fire movement.” Emmy 
shrugged her shoulders. Now that she had again 
come into her own she was ready to consign the 
frivolous Blanche to oblivion and proceed to some- 
thing that savored of greater interest. The two 
days spent in the Shirly’s society had been of 
small profit to her, so far as genuine amusement 
was concerned. 

“ I am sorry for Blanche.” Ruth spoke soberly. 
“ It isn’t really her fault that she thinks of noth- 
ing but clothes and beaux. It’s — ” Ruth paused. 
She hardly liked to lay the blame for Blanche’s 
frivolity at Mrs. Shirly’s door. To Ruth the very 
name of “ mother ” was sacred. “ It’s — well — 
it’s the way she has been brought up.” 

“ Oh, let’s not talk of Blanche! ” Emmy did 
not propose that the conversation should take a 
serious turn. ‘ ‘ Tell me some more about the 
Seven Savage Maidens and their glorious works.” 

“ It is a case of Eight Savage Maidens now,” 
corrected Frances. “ Marian has joined the 
ranks.” 

“Oh!” Emmy’s dark eyebrows lifted them- 
selves. “I beg your pardon. I really forgot 
Miss — ” She paused as though making an effort 
to remember Marian’s surname. 


148 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

44 Selby/ ’ returned Marian quietly. “ But won’t 
you please call me Marian? I should hate to be 
4 Miss ’ to Ruth’s dearest friend.” 

Emmy had the grace to flush slightly at this 
gentle attempt at friendliness on the part of the 
girl to whom she had half intended to be rude. 
Her better nature conquering, she held out her 
hand impulsively. 44 Of course I will call you 
Marian. I am glad you asked me. ’ ’ 

44 We ought to name ourselves all over again,” 
asserted Jane. “I never did care much about 
calling such a worthy band as ours 4 Savage 
Maidens.’ It savors of the Sandwich Islands, or 
some equally heathenish locality.” 

4 4 Let’s have alliteration,” proposed Frances. 
44 I adore alliteration. Let me see. What would 
go nicely with Eight? Excusable, excitable, exu- 
berant, excruciating, extraordinary — any of those 
strike your fancy? ’ ’ She grinned impishly. 4 4 Ah ! 
Now I have it! Why not call ourselves 4 The 
Equitable Eight ’? That would mean that we are 
a just and impartial band, devoted to good works 
and of a calm and steadfast mind.” 

44 4 Equitable Eight,’ ” repeated Anne. 44 That 
sounds rather nice.” 

44 1 like it, too.” Betty nodded approval. 


An Innocent Trouble Maker 


149 


* 6 That settles it. ’ 7 Frances rose from her chair 
and waved a triumphant hand. “ Be it known 
henceforth and forever that the Seven Savage 
Maidens have ceased to exist. They have been 
unceremoniously shoved off the map by the Equit- 
able Eight. Death and disgrace to those who 
oppose us l That last gentle sentiment is sup- 
posed to scare off opposition . 7 7 She eyed Jane 
severely. 

‘ ‘You needn’t look at me. I wasn’t going to 
oppose it,” defended Jane. “I intend to live 
up to it. I hope certain persons I know will fol- 
low my example. ’ ’ 

“ I hope so,” agreed Frances soulfully. 

Emmeline Cerrito regarded Jane and Frances 
with amused eyes. It was really very pleasant to 
be back in the fold once more. She would tele- 
phone for her luggage and have it sent at once 
to the Roost. “ I’m going to phone for my things,” 
she announced, rising with the languid grace which 
was so characteristic of her. ‘ ‘ Don ’t let me dis- 
turb you. Betty will show me to the telephone, 
won’t you, dear? ” 

“ Certainly.” Betty rose with alacrity. “ Don’t 
you want to see your room, Emmy? It has been 
waiting patiently for you. You are to have my 


150 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

room. I am rooming with Aunt Louise. As I 
said to Ruth when she decided to stay with Mar- 
ian, it is really the prettiest in the house. It will 
be a kind of compensation for having to be a 
single.’ ’ 

Betty’s courteous, well-meant explanation met 
with most astonishing results. Unwittingly she 
had blundered into the very thing which Ruth had 
good cause to know would upset Emmy’s hitherto 
gracious humor. In a twinkling the radiance 
faded from the French girl’s beautiful face. Her 
dark brows drew together in a deep frown and 
her black eyes flashed signals of rising storm. It 
was as though a thunder cloud had suddenly 
obscured a dazzling blue sky. Then as swiftly as 
it had come, the storm passed. On her red lips 
flickered a faint smile which might have been con- 
strued to mean much or little. It hinted of un- 
spoken things. 

“ It was awfully kind in you and Ruth to take 
so much trouble for me,” she said with a sweet- 
ness that was more disconcerting than a sudden 
outburst of temper on her part could have possibly 
been. “ I surely appreciate it. I don’t in the least 
mind being a single.” Her tone hinted that she 
preferred it. “ I was so provoked last year at 


An Innocent Trouble Maker 151 

Miss Belaire’s when I found I couldn’t room 
alone. But that, of course, was before I met Ruth. 
Suppose we telephone for my luggage, at once. 
Then I can see my wonderful room. I know I shall 
love it. Be good, girls. I’ll see you later.” With 
a careless nod, she followed Betty to the door and 
disappeared inside. 

Marian cast a half imploring glance at Ruth 
which seemed to say, “I was afraid of this.” 
Ruth, however, sat very erect in the porch swing, 
an angry gleam in her brown eyes. If Emmy ex- 
pected that she, Ruth, would hurriedly pursue her 
with contrite coaxings and apologies, then she 
would be disappointed. She had fully intended 
to explain things to Emmy while they sat side by 
side in the porch swing, but Betty had forestalled 
her. Now matters might remain as they were. 
She would not humble herself in an attempt to 
pacify her difficult friend. If, in the first place, 
Emmy had not lingered perversely at the Inn 
with the Shirlys, the question of rooms might have 
been amicably settled. Emmy, not she, was at 
fault and although she loved her roommate dearly, 
Ruth renewed her determination to maintain the 
stand she had taken, even though it cost her her 
friendship with Emmeline Cerrito. 


CHAPTER XIII 


AN INTEKESTING FIND 

An embarrassing silence fell upon the six re- 
maining occupants of the veranda as Emmy and 
Betty disappeared. Ruth sat staring doggedly 
ahead of her. Marian looked distressed; Anne, 
sorrowful. Jane set her chin at a belligerent 
angle, while Frances and Sarah exchanged glances 
of mystified curiosity. 

44 I think I’ll go to my room.” Ruth slid from 
the porch swing and walked into the house, her 
head defiantly erect. Marian’s troubled eyes 
sought Ruth’s retreating back, then she rose and 
mutely followed her. 

44 So that is the reason Emmy has acted so 
queerly,” burst forth Jane Pellew. 

4 4 What do you mean, Jane?” was Frances’ 
sharp question. 44 Something seems to be in the 
wind that Sarah and I have missed. Anne looks 
as though she might be able to explain a few 
things.” 

4 4 What do I mean ? J ust this : I suspected that 
Emmy was angry with Ruth, the day we went to 

152 


Ail Interesting Find 


153 


the train to meet her. She was crazy to see Ruth, 
then after Ruth got here, Emmy changed in a 
twinkling. Don’t you remember? She asked me 
to ride on the front seat with her when we started 
for the Roost. I thought, then, that I could find 
out what ailed her, but she didn’t give me a chance. 
Afterward, when she sent that note to Betty, I 
concluded that she was simply airing her famous 
temperament. I hadn’t changed my mind about 
her when the Shirlys were here this morning. I 
didn’t wake up until about three minutes ago. 
Now it’s all clear as crystal.” 

“ Sorry I can’t agree with you,” declared Sarah 
dryly. “ The only part of it that’s clear to me 
is that Emmy is cross because she has to room 
alone. It ’s her own fault for staying away. If she 
had come here in good season, any one of us 
would have been glad to have, her for a room- 
mate.” 

“ It isn’t the idea of rooming alone that has 
upset her,” cut in Jane impatiently. “It’s be- 
cause Ruth is rooming with Marian. She expected 
to have Ruth for her roommate. She’s jealous 
of Ruth’s friendship with her cousin. Isn’t she, 
Anne? ” 

“ I am afraid she is,” was Anne’s grave reply. 


154 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ I saw it from ? the first, but I didn’t intend to say 
anything. Perliaps it is just as well that we all 
know it now. We can work together to make 
things right again.” She leaned forward in her 
chair and motioned the girls to draw closer to her. 

‘ i What can we do ? ’ ’ demanded J ane rather 
skeptically. “ I can imagine what would happen 
if we went to Emmy in a body, informed her that 
we knew she was jealous of Marian and invited 
her to behave like a reasonable human being.” 

“We couldn ’t do that, of course. ’ ’ Anne smiled 
faintly. She had a mental vision of a disconcerted 
peace committee fleeing before Emmy’s wrath. 
i 1 But we can simplify matters by pretending not 
to see that anything unusual has happened. Emmy 
won’t try to enlist sympathy. She isn’t that sort 
of person. Neither will Ruth, nor Marian. We 
must be strictly neutral and ignore the situation. 
We had better keep Marian with us as much as 
possible and leave Ruth and Emmy together. Then 
they will soon come to an understanding. I can’t 
help saying that Buth isn’t to blame. Still, we 
are all fond enough of Emmy to wish to see her 
happy.” 

‘ 4 Anne, you are a darling, and here ’s my hand 
in token of my admiration!” exclaimed Jane, 


An Interesting Find 


155 


presenting her thin brown hand with a flourish. 
“ If we intend truly to be the Equitable Eight we 
must live up to our name. ’ ’ 

u Plain Jane, for once I agree with you. Shake 
hands with me.” Frances possessed herself of 
Jane’s hand and shook it with an energy that 
brought quick protest from its owner. 

“ But what about Betty? ” propounded Sarah. 
“ We ought to tell her what we’ve decided to do.” 

“ As hostess she is bound to be neutral,” re- 
minded Anne gently. ‘ 4 But if you like, I ’ll tell her 
about our plan.” 

Light had, however, partially dawned upon 
Betty Wyndham. She stood beside the French 
girl as she telephoned to Silver Birch Inn for her 
luggage, a faint frown marring her placid fore- 
head. Should she tactfully inquire into the cause 
of Emmy’s recent displeasure, or should she not? 
She took it for granted that Emmy was vexed 
to find that Ruth had not elected to share her 
room, but she did not then attribute her brief 
flash of temper to anything deeper than that. 

‘ ‘ I think you will like your room, Emmy, ’ ’ was 
all she said as they turned from the telephone. 
“ It is exactly suited to you.” 
i i Certainly I shall like it. ’ ’ Emmy threw a 


156 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

graceful arm across Betty’s shoulder as, side by 
side, they mounted the stairs. As she stood at 
the telephone, her alert mind had reviewed the 
situation and risen to meet it. She would show 
Ruth that she could get along very nicely with- 
out her. Not by overt act or word did she pro- 
pose to carry out her plan. She was too clever 
for that, she told herself. She would simply de- 
vote herself to being particularly agreeable to the 
other girls. She would not slight or shun either 
Ruth or Marian, but she would build up an intan- 
gible barrier between herself and them that would 
keep them at a distance. 

Meanwhile, in their pretty blue room, Marian 
and Ruth were going over the same ground that 
they had mentally traversed on the day when Ruth 
had exacted a promise from her cousin to remain 
at Wanderer’s Roost. Once again, this time in 
tears, Marian had announced her decision to go 
home, and, as before, Ruth was earnestly pleading 
with her to remain. “ If you go, then I shall feel 
it my duty to go with you,” she repeated. 

“I — don’t — know — what I had best do.” 
Marian regarded her cousin with mournful eyes. 
“ Please say that you will stay, even if I decide 
to leave here,” she pleaded. “ There were just 


An Interesting Find 


157 


seven of yon in the first place, and you can get 
along beautifully without me. Once I have gone, 
your friend Emmy will feel more at ease.” 

11 You’ve forgotten that we are now the Equi- 
table Eight,” Ruth reminded. “ If you go away 
now, since the girls have come to know and like 
you, then you will owe them a definite explana- 
tion. You wouldn’t like to make it, and you simply 
couldn’t offer a false excuse. There is just one 
thing for us to do: Stay and make the best of 
it. If Emmy chooses to snub us, and I don’t be- 
lieve she will, then we must meet her discourtesy 
with unfailing politeness. Two wrongs never 
made a right, you know. We must be Camp Fire 
Girls in earnest.” 

‘ * I know you are right, ’ ’ sighed Marian. “I’m 
not afraid of being snubbed. It is you I’m think- 
ing of.” 

“ I know it.” Ruth laid a caressing hand on 
Marian’s drooping shoulder. “ Brace up. This 
little cloud may pass away soon. Perhaps when 
Emmy sees her room, she will feel more like her 
old dear self. It’s so pretty, she can’t help being 
cheerful, once she is settled in it. Suppose we go 
down to the veranda again. The girls will wonder 
why we left them so suddenly. They may have 


158 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

a, fair idea of things by this time. Unless they 
mention it to ns, we won’t say a word. It’s always 
wisest to ignore unpleasant things. Now bathe 
your face and put a touch of rice powder on it. 
That will scare the tear stains away.” 

As the quartette of girls on the veranda had 
already agreed to do precisely as Ruth had un- 
knowingly counseled her cousin, there was small 
danger that the tabooed subject would be brought 
forward. Ruth and Marian reached the veranda 
just in time to join their friends in a stroll down 
Lookout Pass. After receiving Betty’s assurance 
that Emmy intended to remain in her room to 
write to her mother, the party trooped gayly off, 
an Equitable Seven, at least. 

Hearing their blithe voices, Emmeline Cerrito 
had walked to a window overlooking the lawn, to 
gaze almost enviously down upon them. A revul- 
sion of feeling swept over her, making her wish 
she had put aside her pride and joined them. Still 
it was not a part of her plan to fall in too readily 
with their projects. The girls must learn to value 
her and seek her society. She would make herself 
particularly agreeable at luncheon, merely to show 
them that she was a person of consequence. After 
all, it was quite necessary that she should write 


An Interesting Find 


159 


her mother, informing her of her arrival at Wan- 
derer’s Roost. Knowing that her mother would 
be displeased to learn that she had not gone di- 
rectly there from the train, she had determined 
not to write of it until she was established as a 
member of the house-party. Once her mother 
found that she was really there, Emmy knew that 
she would escape with a mild reproof. Whereas, 
if she wrote from the Inn, she stood in danger of 
being ordered to Newport by the first train. 

As the last girl disappeared from view, she 
turned from the window to begin the writing of 
her letter. An exclamation of impatience burst 
from her lips. Her luggage was still at the Inn. 
She had neither stationery nor pens. Her dark 
eyes wandered to a small white maple desk in one 
corner of the room. It was closed. Should she 
try it to ascertain if it were locked? This was 
Betty’s room. Still, Betty had turned it over 
to her for the time being. No doubt Betty intended 
the desk for her use. 

Crossing the room with the swift, lithe grace 
that was hers, Emmy tried it. It yielded to her 
touch, and when open, as is characteristic of the 
small, ornamental writing desk, the lid formed a 
writing table. Emmy frowned her disappoint- 


160 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

ment. There was the usual desk set and plenty of 
pens, even to a fountain pen, but there was no 
paper. Raising the lid, her impatient hand sought 
the drawer underneath. She opened it, emitting 
a cluck of satisfaction. Here were three sizes of 
note paper with envelopes to match. Mentally 
making her selection, she reached for the topmost 
sheet of paper on one pile. It stuck, necessitat- 
ing the raising of the entire stack. Her black eyes 
suddenly became riveted on an open letter under- 
neath, the handwriting of which was decidedly 
familiar. Hardly conscious of the enormity of 
her act, she began to read. With a low cry of 
triumph she snatched the letter from the drawer 
and read on to the end. When she had finished, 
an unpleasant laugh broke from her red lips. She 
had stumbled upon a piece of extremely interest- 
ing information. 


CHAPTER XIV 


A DISQUIETING THOUGHT 

When, at a little after one o ’clock that day, the 
house-party gathered in the dining room for lunch- 
eon, Emmeline Cerrito’s charming face showed 
no sign of ill-humor. With the gay graciousness 
of manner that she could assume at will, and which 
made her so fascinating, she entered with appar- 
ent heartiness into the merry flow of conversa- 
tion that went on at the table. This, in itself, 
was a matter of distinct relief to her companions. 
They had half expected her to wrap herself in the 
cloak of bored languor she was wont to don when 
displeased, and which inevitably caused them to 
become constrained and ill at ease in her presence. 
They were, therefore, only too willing to meet 
her friendly advances at least halfway, with an 
eye to avoiding further hitches in their pro- 
gramme of enjoyment. 

After luncheon the interrupted session in the liv- 
ing room was resumed. Ruth, Marian, Sarah and 
Jane settled themselves to the writing of letters. 
Frances went to her room to finish exploring the 
161 


162 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

mysteries of her trunk, Betty and Anne soon lost 
track of the world around them in absorbed read- 
ing, while Emmy lolled on the davenport among 
the gay cushions, ostensibly devoting herself to 
a volume of Poe’s 1 1 Weird Tales” which she 
had picked up from the library table. Every now 
and then, however, her somber eyes strayed to 
Marian, who, serenely unconscious of the contem* 
plative scrutiny, was deep in a letter to Mrs. Gar- 
nier. It was necessarily a long letter, for Marian 
was happiest when writing and, to quote her own 
words, i i never knew when to leave off . 9 9 

As the afternoon advanced Sarah and Jane 
triumphantly sealed and stamped their epistolary 
efforts and betook themselves verandaward. Hav- 
ing completed her work of bringing order out of 
disorder, Frances presently joined them and the 
sounds of spirited discussion soon informed those 
in the living room that, outside, entertainment 
awaited them. Betty and Anne exchanged smiling 
glances, then resumed their reading. Frequent 
bursts of laughter from the trio caused interest 
in literature to decline, and soon they laid aside 
their books to consort with the illustrious three. 

Conscientious to the last degree, Buth reso- 
lutely turned a deaf ear to the enticing murmur 


A Disquieting Thought 


163 


of voices that emanated from the veranda until 
she had finished her writing. She sighed satis- 
faction as she folded the result of her industry 
and prepared it for mailing. Rising, she was 
about to join the porch party, when it occurred 
to her that to leave Marian and Emmy alone to- 
gether might prove awkward for both of them. 
On second thought she decided that it might be 
advisable to give them a chance to become accus- 
tomed to each other. With a third party always 
on the scene, there was small possibility of their 
becoming acquainted. Left to themselves, they 
might arrive at some degree of understanding 
which eventually would lead to friendship. With 
this hope in mind, Ruth slipped quietly from the 
room. 

Deep in her writing, Marian did not raise her 
eyes from her paper as Ruth made her exit. 
Emmy, on the contrary, watched her disappear, 
a curious light in her black eyes. Her gaze next 
rested speculatively on the brown head bent over 
the writing table. She opened her lips as though 
to speak, then seeming to reconsider, fastened her 
attention once more upon her book. For fifteen 
minutes silence reigned in the living room. Then 
suddenly, conscious of the fact that she was being 


164 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

watched, Marian raised her head, to find the 
French girl staring fixedly at her. 

“You must love to write letters,” drawled 
Emmy. 

“ I do,” responded Marian, with a faint smile. 

“ I am told that you write verses and stories,” 
pursued Emmy. 

Marian felt the hot color rise to her cheeks. 
There was a hint of skeptical amusement, border- 
ing on insolence, in the soft, drawling voice. It 
aroused in her a desire to answer the remark in 
kind. Determined to steer clear of anything that 
might lead to an open rupture between herself 
and Emmy, she stifled the impulse and said evenly, 
“ Oh, I only write for my own amusement.” 

“ Did Euth ever tell you that I was something 
of a writer? ” asked Emmy. 

“ Why, no.” Marian looked interested. “ She 
has often spoken of your wonderful singing, 
though. I should love to hear you sing.” 

“Perhaps Til sing for you some time,” con- 
ceded Emmy in a patronizing tone that Marian 
inwardly resented. “ In return you might read 
me one of your stories.” 

“I couldn’t read aloud the things I write,” 
confessed Marian. “I should feel foolish and 


A Disquieting Thought 


165 


embarrassed. Besides, I didn’t bring any of my 
scribbling with me to the Catskills. All my lit- 
erary attempts are in my trunk at the Garniers. ,, 

“ That’s unfortunate,” shrugged Emmy. “ It 
was awfully nice for Ruth that you could come 
with her to the Catskills, wasn’t it? ” 

This innocent question caused Marian’s cheeks 
to burn afresh. She wondered what lay behind 
it. Was it merely casual? She remembered 
Ruth’s frank admission to her that she had been 
prepared to resent her visit. Was it possible that 
Ruth had written slightingly of her to Emmy be- 
fore meeting her? She could hardly credit it. 
Ruth was too fair and straightforward for that. 
She dismissed the suspicion from her mind as 
unworthy. 

6 ‘ Ruth can answer your question better than I, ’ ’ 
she returned with forced tranquillity. 

“ Ruth is such a dear,” pursued Emmy. “ She 
is always thinking about making others happy. 
She would put herself to any amount of personal 
inconvenience rather than seem selfish or inhos- 
pitable. Last year, at Miss Belaire’s, she was 
always changing her plans for the sake of pleas- 
ing the other girls. It used to provoke me dread- 
fully. I often advised her to please herself occa- 


166 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

sionally, instead of always being a martyr to duty. 
Of course, in your case it was entirely different. 
One's guests are entitled to one's first considera- 
tion. But I must not disturb you. You will never 
finish your letter if I keep on talking. I think I'll 
take a stroll to the veranda. The girls seem to 
be having a good time out there." Emmy lazily 
quitted the davenport and sauntered toward the 
door. “I'll leave you to write in peace," she 
smiled over her shoulder. But the curve of her 
red lips suggested a mockery of her verbal con- 
sideration. 

Marian stared unseeingly after Emmy, the prey 
of many emotions. The French girl had left her 
in a far from peaceful state of mind. Underneath 
Emmy's affably-uttered praise of Ruth, Marian 
detected double meaning. Ruth's unselfish nature 
had been used by this beautiful, insolent girl as a 
knife with which to stab her. She could have 
received the thrust lightly had it not been for the 
one tormenting thought that Ruth had not really 
wished her to join the house-party. Perhaps she 
had written Emmy to that effect. It would quite 
explain the French girl's carefully veiled insults. 
If this were true, then the cousin she adored had 
been guilty of double dealing. She had deceit- 


A Disquieting Thought 


167 


fully insisted on Marian’s companionship and had 
privately deplored the fact to Emmy. 

What was to be done? If she went frankly to 
Ruth to demand the truth, and Ruth were really 
deceitful, then she would no doubt meet her with 
further deceit by assuring her that there was no 
hidden sting in Emmy’s words. That would in- 
deed be hard to bear. On the contrary, if Ruth 
were all that she still believed her to be, she would 
not hesitate to answer the question that now for- 
mulated itself in Marian’s brain. As, with chin in 
hand, she pondered sadly, the sound of Ruth’s 
cheerful tones floated in from the veranda. In 
that voice rang sincerity and truth. Perhaps it 
would be hardly worth while to ask that question. 
Marian felt that she already knew Ruth’s answer. 
Yet to withhold it meant that within her there 
would ever lurk a lingering doubt. Her sensitive 
nature urged her to set the doubt at rest. When 
she and Ruth had retired to their room that 
night, she would frankly put the matter before 
her cousin. 

Her mind more at ease, Marian proceeded to fin- 
ish her letter. It was hardly out of the way when 
Frances appeared and began laying before her 
voluble plans for the great ghost scare which she 


168 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

had decreed should take place on the first dark 
night. She had been privately consulting the al- 
manac and had discovered that it would soon he 
the dark of the moon. She had yet to unearth a 
pair of stilts, but she had not given up hope that 
they might materialize at the proper moment. 
Frances’ glee was infectious and Marian forgot 
her doubts and fears. 

After dinner the Equitable Eight, equitable 
indeed with the exception of one member, whose 
defect did not appear on the surface, repaired to 
the living room for an evening of “ stunts.” Betty 
recited “ Lasca ” and “ The Absent-Minded Beg- 
gar ” with fine dramatic effect. Anne Follett of- 
fered a particularly beautiful little nocturne on 
the piano. Afterward she electrified her friends 
by modestly claiming it as her own composition. 
Jane contributed to the affair with a clever exhi- 
bition of buck and wing dancing, the intricate 
steps of which she had learned by watching the 
darkies dance on her father’s plantation. Anne, 
who also claimed the South as her home, knew 
the music best suited to Jane’s steps and the girls 
hailed this contribution with delight as well as 
surprise, for Jane had never mentioned to them 
her ability in this particular art. 


A Disquieting Thought 169 

Sarah and Frances went through with a ridic- 
ulous, old-fashioned dialogue, which Frances had 
stumbled upon in an ancient reader, bought at a 
second-hand book store in Hillside. The two 
friends had pounced upon the dialogue, learned it 
and privately practiced it with much glee. They 
had agreed to save it for a great occasion, but for 
one reason or another had never given it. Thus 
this rare bit of literature had languished unspo- 
ken, to be seized upon with joy as a fitting contri- 
bution to the stunt party. Ruth sang a baby song 
with a hesitating, lisping accent, in a high-keyed, 
childish voice, and Marian recited a funny little 
poem about a frenzied poet who tried to give a 
reading of his verses at an afternoon tea, where 
no one would stop talking long enough to listen 
to him. 

At her own request, Emmy was last on the pro- 
gramme. During the evening she had been a 
model of smiling affability and the girls now 
looked eagerly forward to hearing her sing. Sure 
of the profound admiration her beautiful voice 
always called forth, she wished to heighten the 
effect by being last. Refusing Anne’s offer to 
accompany her, she sat down at the piano, her long, 
slender fingers wandering lightly over the keys. 


170 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Drifting into the prelude of Tosti’s plaintive 
“ Good-bye/ ’ she sang it with the wealth of ex- 
pression that the romantic temperament of the 
Latin knows best how to impart. Without wait- 
ing for applause she began a French song, full of 
brilliant runs and trills, which showed off her 
glorious voice to its best advantage. When she 
had finished singing it, she turned about as though 
to leave the piano. A chorus of eager, protest- 
ing voices, begging for more, caused her to face 
the keyboard again. il Just this one/’ she stipu- 
lated with a shrug. Then she sang in French the 
marvelous aria from “ Sampson and Delilah.’ ’ 

The stunt party ended with the return of Miss 
Wyndham, who expressed such energetic regret 
at having missed it, that the performers obligingly 
pledged themselves to give it all over again in the 
near future for her benefit. Not to be outdone, 
she promised a taffy pull in the kitchen. T,he 
entertainers willingly trooped after her to the 
humble realm of pots and pans, to revel for the 
next hour in sticky sweetness. 

It was not until they were preparing for sleep 
that night that the disquieting thoughts of the 
afternoon returned to Marian. 

“What makes you so quiet, Marian! Didn’t 


A Disquieting Thought 


171 


you have a good time to-night? ” Ruth eyed Ma- 
rian speculatively as the latter sat soberly plait- 
ing her long brown hair. 

“ I had a beautiful time, Ruth.” Marian spoke 
with the utmost sincerity. “How clever your 
friends are ! ’ ’ 

“ I think I have a decidedly clever cousin,” was 
Ruth’s complimentary retort. “ That thing you 
recited about the poet was so funny. I am the 
only one who didn’t contribute much. Stunts 
aren’t in my line; the showing-off kind, I mean. 
Isn’t Emmy’s voice glorious? I could listen to 
her all night and then beg for more. ’ ’ 

“ She sings with great expression,” said Marian 
slowly. “That reminds me, Ruth.” Marian’s 
heart beat a trifle faster, though her voice was 
tranquil. The mention of Emmy’s name brought 
before her the question she had yet to ask. Striv- 
ing to speak casually, she went on. “When we 
were on the train that brought us to the Catskills, 
did you not say that you had not written Emmy 
about me? ” 

“Yes,” was the quick rejoinder. “Why do 
you ask? ” 

“ I was thinking about it this afternoon and it 
occurred to me that you had said that.” 


172 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ That was one reason Emmy acted so queerly, 
at first/ ’ explained Ruth. “ She thought I ought 
to have written her, you know. But it doesn’t 
make any difference now. Emmy is quite herself 
again. One could see that from the way she acted 
to-night. If she were still cross with me, she 
would have shown it. Don’t worry any more, 
Marian. It was just a little cloud that soon sailed 
away. I’m so pleased to think everything is going 
smoothly again.” 

Marian’s face brightened as she listened to 
Ruth. A thrill of thankfulness swept over her. 
Ruth had stood the test. Her candid admission 
had the unmistakable ring of truth. She was nei- 
ther deceitful nor a backbiter. But Emmy had 
not changed as Ruth supposed. She was still 
nursing her grievance. She had spoken with the 
deliberate intention of arousing Marian to sus- 
picion against Ruth. Marian was glad that she 
had asked her question. It had served its pur- 
pose. Her belief in Ruth was now unshakable. 
Armed with this renewed trust in her cousin, she 
was confident that hereafter she could meet un- 
flinchingly Emmy’s attempts to annoy her, and 
brush them aside as unworthy of notice. 


CHAPTER XV 

NEAR TO NATURE^ HEART 

For a week after the stunt party, life ran along 
with admirable smoothness for the dwellers at 
Wanderer's Roost. Save for the little scene en- 
acted in the living room, concerning which the 
actors were mute, the Equitable Eight appeared 
to be living up to their name. This was largely 
due to the fact that Marian carefully avoided be- 
ing alone with Emmeline Cerrito. She did not 
especially fear the jealous French girl’s power 
to make her uncomfortable. Ruth’s sincerity was 
a bulwark of defence. She had tried to feel angry 
with Emmy, but, strange to relate, she was merely 
sorry for her. She was so beautiful, so talented, 
it seemed a pity that the great good in her, which 
Marian guessed lay beneath her temperamental 
exterior, should be overshadowed by minor faults. 
Even a weed will die for lack of water. Deprived 
of the opportunity to stir up trouble, Emmy would 
eventually lose the desire to do so and allow her 
better nature to come to the surface. This was 
Marian’s exceedingly charitable viewpoint. 

173 


174 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Emmy’s views, however, differed vastly from 
Marian’s. She had by no means given up her 
campaign against Marian’s peace of mind. Her 
alert brain had quickly divined Marian’s plan of 
action. Appearing to fall in with it, Emmy was 
merely biding her time. She had tried to set 
Marian against Ruth, and she had failed. Either 
Marian was too dull to comprehend her insinua- 
tions, or else, having understood them, she had 
taken Ruth to task and demanded an explanation. 
Emmy did not believe this last conjecture to be 
correct. Such a move on Marian’s part would 
have immediately involved herself. Not that she 
would have been dismayed. Thanks to a certain 
discovery she had made, she could have trium- 
phantly carried off the situation and left dissen- 
sion in her wake. Since her first essay had 
yielded nothing, she would be obliged to try again. 
Sooner or later, chance would throw Marian and 
her together again. She could afford to wait. With 
this thought ever in the background, Emmy gave 
herself up to the business of enjoyment, exerting 
herself to please and apparently quite ready to be 
pleased. She lost no time in reestablishing herself 
on her former intimate footing with Ruth, was 
uniformly gracious to all, including Marian, and 


Near to Nature’s Heart 


175 


behaved much after the fashion of the fabled lit- 
tle girl, who u when she was good, she was very, 
very good.” The deplorable fall from grace of 
this same little girl, who, ‘ ‘ when she was bad, she 
was horrid,” in Emmy’s case bade fair to become 
purely fiction. 

During this particularly happy week, when 
peace and equity reigned supreme, the Equitable 
Eight found much to do and see. Camp Fire in- 
terest came to the front with a bound. There were 
beads to be earned in this mountainous and fruit- 
ful territory and the girls were determined to 
earn them. Up early in the morning, they spent 
the beautiful summer days in exploring the sur- 
rounding country, always finding new and inter- 
esting things at which to exclaim and wonder. 

They took long hikes, visiting the various points 
of interest which for years have been dear to the 
hearts of the tourists, who, following the example 
of Washington Irving, find inspiration as well as 
recreation in the justly-famed Catskills. The blue- 
garbed band of rosy-cheeked, happy-faced girls, 
their eyes sparkling with health, soon became a 
familiar sight to the guests staying at the great 
hotels and cottages in and about Haines Falls. 
As Ruth had been the magnet that drew the seven 


176 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

girls to her by reason of her lovable nature and 
her enthusiasm in the Camp Fire movement, so 
she became the leader in the free life of the out- 
doors which they now lived. Her tireless energy 
and boundless enthusiasm spurred them on to 
make every effort to become seasoned woodsmen. 

Even Miss Wyndham, who at first from a sense 
of duty accompanied them on their peregrinations 
over hills and dales, principally hills, soon became 
a sturdy advocate of their cause. She was wont 
to declare that her age alone prevented her from 
making a valiant attempt to win Camp Fire beads. 
In her trim blue walking suit and high-laced boots, 
she looked hardly older than the girls themselves, 
and the merest mention of her claim to middle age 
became a signal for violent protest. 

After very little coaxing, Miss Wyndham al- 
lowed herself to be drawn into an alluring camp- 
ing scheme, which had lain at the back of Ruth’s 
busy brain from the moment she had first 
glimpsed the Catskills. The mere mention of it 
had fired Betty’s ardor to fare forth and blaze new 
trails, and it had not taken long to secure the fas- 
cinating paraphernalia necessary to camp life, 
before which modern conveniences pale into insig- 
nificance. 


Near to Nature’s Heart 


177 


That week spent under canvas, so near to Na- 
ture’s heart, was one long to be remembered. To 
rise with the first light of the dawn, build one’s 
own fire, cook breakfast in the open, and eat it 
with an unfailing appetite, was happiness indeed. 
The site on which the Equitable Eight had pitched 
their tents was sufficiently far from the ultra-civ- 
ilization of the mountain hotels and cottages to 
give them the delightful feeling of being really 
cut off from the rest of the world, and they rev- 
eled in it. 

The pleasure of it deepened with the ending of 
each day, when, supper over, they circled about 
their own camp fire to sing the songs they all 
knew, and to exchange stories and fond reminis- 
cences of past happy days. It was pure adven- 
ture to watch the creeping darkness steal upon 
them, blotting out the things of daylight, until 
even the great trees that stood sentinel-like about 
the camp became huge, indistinct shapes. And 
who, unless he has tried it, can even imagine the 
bliss of making one’s own bed of fragrant boughs 
and lying down on it to be lulled into dreamless 
sleep by the music of the sighing wind among the 
trees? 

Undoubtedly they would have prolonged their 


178 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

stay for at least another week, had not the dire 
news been brought to them by a trio of young 
men that a forest fire was raging its devastating 
way toward the very bit of woods in which they 
were camping. Burdened with their own camp- 
ing outfit, the three youths passed the girls ’ syl- 
van retreat on their way to civilization and safety, 
and the information caused a hurried breaking of 
camp on the part of the Equitable Eight. Ruth, 
Frances and Betty were dispatched on a five-mile 
hike to the home of the man who had been engaged 
to haul their equipment back to Wanderer’s 
Roost, while the rest of the party spent a busy 
morning preparing for the flitting. 

Once their outfit was safely disposed of, the 
party started on the homeward hike and after 
being caught in a rainstorm and spending a night 
in a farmhouse, they arrived at the Roost early 
in the afternoon of the following day, compara- 
tively fresh after their strenuous travel and highly 
pleased with themselves and their sojourn in Na- 
ture’s personal company. 

To Marian Selby it had been an especially pleas- 
ant outing, due largely to the fact that Emmeline 
Cerrito had been strictly on her good behavior. 
Kinship with the outdoors had exerted a most ben- 


Near to Nature’s Heart 


179 


eficial influence over the changeable French girl. 
In no degree shallow, her beauty-loving soul had 
responded to the call of the wild. It was the first 
time in her short life that she had led so free and 
unworldly an existence, and the very unconven- 
tionality of it fascinated her. Lofty emotions, of 
which she had never believed herself capable, 
sprang to life within her. She did not understand 
this sudden awakening to the knowledge that 
“ the meanest flower that blows, can give thoughts 
that do often lie too deep for tears.’ ’ Neither did 
she wish to understand it. She preferred to allow 
herself to drift dreamily along in the new world 
just opening to her, allowing neither thoughts of 
the past or future to disturb her bliss. This ex- 
alted state of mind served to make her the pattern 
of smiling amiability. She was not particularly 
useful in camp, but she was extremely good com- 
pany. She had a fund of interesting experiences 
to tell, due to living all over the world, and she 
was not chary of her beautiful voice but obligingly 
sang when she was asked to sing. Taking advan- 
tage of her softened mood, the girls were never 
tired of listening to her golden voice, and she was 
besieged nightly with the fervent plea, “ Do sing 
for us, Emmy.” 


180 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

In consideration of all this, it was not strange 
that Marian should arrive at the conclusion that 
Emmy had indeed come into her better self. The 
latter had treated her with uniform courtesy, 
never alluding to their conversation in the living 
room. Ruth was openly jubilant over the marvel- 
ous change in her roommate. While in camp she 
hung about Emmy with renewed devotion. This 
in itself was sufficient to inspire the difficult 
French girl to good works. 

Unfortunately happiness is never of long dura- 
tion. Its very quality of evanescence makes it 
doubly dear, as three members of the house-party 
were destined to learn. On the road home Marian 
had complained of a violent headache. Shortly 
after she reached the Roost, she disappeared into 
her bedroom, and Ruth, who had followed her, 
presently returned to the living room, where the 
remainder of the hikers were taking a well- 
earned rest, with the announcement that Marian’s 
head was aching frightfully. 

‘‘I’ll go to lier at once,” announced Betty 
solicitously. “ Perhaps I can do something to 
relieve it.” Betty rose to follow Ruth, who had 
turned from the living room and was halfway 
upstairs. 


Near to Nature's Heart 


181 


Emmeline Cerrito had not added her voice to 
the sympathetic murmur that went up at Ruth’s 
announcement. Back in civilization once more, 
her recent forest worship had slipped from her 
like a cloak. Immediately on returning to the 
Roost, she had called up the Silver Birch Inn ga- 
rage and ordered her car. She had decided to go 
to Haines Falls on a number of errands and had 
invited such of the girls who wished to accompany 
her. Ruth had accepted her invitation with alac- 
rity, as had also Frances and Jane. Anne, Betty 
and Sarah had declined, preferring to take their 
luxurious ease at home. Marian had disappeared 
before Emmy had had time to invite her. 

Seized with a sudden thought, Emmy sprang 
from her chair and hurried into the hall. “Wait 
a moment, Ruth,” she called. 

Ruth halted on the stairs at the command. ‘ 1 Go 
on up, Betty. I’ll be with you in a minute. What 
is it, Emmy? ” 

“You are not going to let Marian’s headache 
interfere with our trip to Haines Falls, are you? ” 

“ I am sorry, Emmy, but I’m afraid you will 
have to go without me,” Ruth looked her regret. 
“ It wouldn’t be right to leave Marian when she 
is feeling so ill.” 


182 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Betty can look after her.” Emmy’s eyebrows 
drew together in their old frown. “ I want you 
to go with me. You know very well you are anx- 
ious to go. Don’t be silly and spoil your whole 
afternoon hanging over her. I dare say she will 
be all right by dinner time. I shall be awfully 
cross with you if you don’t do as I ask.” 

Ruth stared at Emmy in silence. She was again 
conscious of the mysterious change that had taken 
place in her friend. Once more Emmy was the 
petulant, self-centered girl who had wrangled 
with her over Marian on that day of her arrival 
at the station. Her sweet amiability had van- 
ished, leaving instead a beautiful, belligerent fig- 
ure with lowering brows and pouting lips. 

“ Are you coming with me or are you going to 
make a martyr of yourself over that ridiculous 
cousin of yours ? ” Rising anger made Emmy care- 
less of speech. 

“ Marian is not ridiculous, Emmy.” Ruth was 
angry, too. Emmy’s last remark crystallized her 
decision. * ‘ I think you are unkind to speak of her 
so slightingly, especially when she is suffering. 
No ; I am not coming with you. I am going to stay 
here and look after Marian. ’ ’ 


CHAPTER XVI 


A REFORM THAT WAS NOT A REFORM 

The motor trip to Haines Palls was rather a 
spiritless affair, so far as Emmy herself was con- 
cerned. She sat on the front seat, beside the 
chauffeur from the Inn garage, allowing him to 
do the driving, looking for all the world like a 
stern young figure of Fate. Frances and Jane, 
who occupied the tonneau, managed to extract a 
fair amount of amusement from the excursion, 
though they were privately disgusted over Em- 
my’s lightning change from sunshine to storm. 
On learning that by reason of Marian’s indispo- 
sition Ruth did not intend to go with them, they 
wisely put two and two together. It may be set 
down to their credit that they refrained from all 
discussion of the subject. 

At dinner that night Emmy was openly pet- 
tish, delivering several barbed answers to the 
commonplaces addressed to her, which warned 
her long-suffering friends that it would be discre-* 
tion to leave her to herself. Marian did not ap- 
pear at the dinner table, but Ruth reported that 
183 


184 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

she had gone to sleep and would no doubt be 
entirely recovered from her headache by morning. 
Marian’s indisposition, however, coupled with 
Emmy’s bad humor, cast a shadow over the mem- 
bers of the house-party, and Miss Wyndham’s 
cheerful attempt at lifting it met with only 
mild success. Emmy retired to her room immedi- 
ately after dinner, there to sulk in solitary gran- 
deur and brood darkly on how she might even her 
score with Marian and Euth. Concentrated brood- 
ing brought results. Her mind, reviewing all that 
she had been forced to endure at Marian’s hand, 
jogged into remembrance the existence of a 
card she had yet to play. Remembrance led to ac- 
tion. Going to her trunk Emmy delved industri- 
ously in the tray, bringing to light several closely 
written sheets of paper. She smiled scornfully as 
she perused them. The time had come in which to 
use them. To-morrow — well, to-morrow would 
reveal a number of things hitherto unrevealed. 

Downstairs in the living room six girls were 
putting in the first monotonous evening they had 
spent at the Roost. At nine o’clock, with one 
accord they confessed themselves not merely 
ready but willing to retire, and stood not upon the 
order of their going. But sleep, that mysterious 


A Reform that Was Not a Reform 185 

“ death of each day’s life/* is a beneficent recti- 
fier of many ills, and the next morning found the 
Equitable Eight on hand for breakfast in a much 
lighter frame of mind. Even Emmy had lost her 
scowl, but in her eyes lay the old unfathomable 
expression that spelled trouble for someone. 

The swimmers of the party elected to visit the 
swimming pool. After making Jane hold up her 
right hand and swear that she would refrain from 
all violence, Frances announced her intention of 
donning the extra bathing suit of which the Roost 
boasted, and getting strictly * 1 in the swim. ’ 9 
Marian smilingly declined to accompany them, 
preferring to remain quietly on the veranda 
rather than court a speedy return of headache. 

Emmy agreed to go and look on, but declined 
to take part in the morning’s sport. An expert 
swimmer, ordinarily she would have looked upon 
the project with favor, but Emmy had other plans 
on hand. To be sure, she sauntered along with 
the bathers, a lovely, indolent figure in her smart 
white linen frock. She affected amused interest 
as she stood on the bank of the swimming pool 
and watched the girls splash about in the water. 
But the moment their laughing attention became 
riveted on Frances, who was making desperate at- 


186 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

tempts at learning to float, she strolled languidly 
away and was soon lost to sight among the trees 
of the little grove near which the pool was located. 

Once she was well out of sight, her languor 
vanished. Taking a somewhat roundabout course 
she hurried on until she reached the highway that 
led directly up to the rear of the Boost. Now and 
then she glanced back in the direction of the pool. 
The thick growth of trees secluded it from the 
highway, making it ideal for bathers. As she 
could not see the girls, she was fairly certain that 
they could not see her. Given they could, they 
might not recognize her at that distance. 

Reaching the Roost at last, she skirted the 
house and made for the veranda. The girl in the 
porch swing raised her eyes from her book at the 
sound of Emmy’s light feet on the steps. 

“Oh!” Marian exclaimed. “Have the girls 
finished their swim so soon? I didn’t expect them 
back for some time yet.” 

“I came back alone,” vouchsafed Emmy 
briefly. She passed on into the house and up the 
stairs. 

Marian returned to her reading, a little pucker 
of perplexity on her forehead. She knew nothing 
of the change a single afternoon had wrought in 


A Reform that Was Not a Reform 187 

Emmy. What puzzled her was the curious, hos- 
tile .glance the latter had flashed at her as she 
ascended the steps. In camp Emmy had appeared 
at times actually to like her. Had her former 
spirit of unfriendliness returned? 

Deep in her own disturbing reflections, she 
hardly sensed Emmy’s return to the veranda, un- 
til she heard her say, “ I am glad we are alone 
this morning. I have something to show you. 
3y the way,” Emmy shot a hasty glance toward 
the living room, “ where is Miss Wyndham? ” 

“ In her room, I believe.” Marian’s voice was 
even, but her heart had begun an unpleasant 
thumping. Instinct warned her that something 
disagreeable was about to happen. 

“ Please read this.” Emmy dropped an open 
letter into Marian’s lap, then leaned against a 
porch pillar, her black eyes riveted on Marian, 
as one about to witness the beginning of a highly 
interesting drama. 

Marian picked it up mechanically and began to 
read: 

‘ 6 Deabest Betty : 

“Something perfectly dreadful has hap- 
pened. A miserable, interfering cousin from 
Springfield, Missouri, is about to thrust her- 
self upon us for a visit, and spoil my lovely 


188 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

plans for joining your house-party. I am 
simply furious over it and — ” 

The writing swam in a mist before Marian’s 
eyes. Tearing her gaze from the offending let- 
ter she held it out to Emmy with hands that trem- 
bled. “ I — I — can ’t — read — it, ” she choked. 
“ It — isn’t — fbr me.” Turning her face toward 
a side of the porch swing, Marian leaned her head 
against it and burst into tears. 

Emmy’s face registered a mixture of satisfac- 
tion, surprise and chagrin. She was glad that she 
had made Marian cry, but she had not expected 
this awkward hitch in her plans. Marian’s honor 
was something on which she had not reckoned. 

1 ‘You might as well go on with it,” she 
sneered. “ You read part of it.” 

Marian raised her dejected head with a jerk. 
A swift rush of righteous anger drove away her 
tears. ‘ ‘ If I had known what it was you handed 
me to read, I would have refused to look at it. As 
soon as I understood, I stopped reading. You 
took an unfair advantage of me. You are a cruel, 
unfeeling girl. But just allow me to ask you this : 
How did you happen to have Betty’s letter in 
your possession? ” 

The question struck home. A bright flush dyed 



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for 


she 
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choked. 



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A Reform that Was Not a Reform 189 

Emmy’s white skin rosy red. Instantly recover- 
ing herself, she laughed unpleasantly. “ Natur- 
ally you are curious to know. Perhaps you 
imagine that I stole it. Think as you please. 
Still, you have read enough of the letter to know 
what a burden you have been to Ruth. You see 
I know all about it. As Ruth’s best friend, she 
keeps very little from me. What amazes me most 
is your deliberate selfishness. If you had been 
as high-principled as you pretend to be, you would 
never have come here.” 

Marian regarded Emmy steadily, her mild 
brown eyes filled with wounded pride. < 1 Do you 
imagine that I would have come here unless urged 
to do so? ” she defended gravely. 

Emmy’s shoulders shrugged scorn at the utter 
futility of Marian’s defense. “Of course Ruth 
urged you. She is too unselfish to stand up for her 
rights. She would far rather suffer than seem 
inhospitable. I know this, because of the way she 
allowed the girls to bother her last year, rather 
than hurt their feelings. As for Betty, she would 
do anything to please Ruth. She invited you be- 
cause she knew Ruth would stay at home unless 
she could bring you here with her.” 

“ Then what difference would it have made if I 


190 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

had refused to come here with Ruth?” cut in 
Marian sharply. “ According to your statement 
she would have refused to come without me, yet 
you wonder why I was so selfish as to be per- 
suaded into coming here with her.” 

This was a somewhat clinching argument, hut 
Emmy was equal to it. “ What you ought to have 
done was to cut short your visit to the Garniers 
and gone back to Missouri where you belong,” she 
said rudely. 

But she had gone a step too far. Marian rose 
and faced Emmy, her sensitive face alive with 
condemning scorn. “ Why should I allow you to 
criticize me in this fashion? ” she retaliated with 
quiet dignity. “ It is not I who am at fault. It 
is you. You have been jealous of Ruth’s friend- 
ship for me from the moment we met. You are 
a very foolish girl to allow your jealousy to mar 
your life. You have everything in the world to 
make you happy, except one thing, and that is a 
kind and charitable disposition. I am sorry for 
you.” 

Marian reached for her book, and securing it 
walked into the house, leaving Emmy in posses- 
sion of a field on which she had fought and been 
worsted. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE ONE WAY OUT 

Behind the sheltering door of her room, 
Marian’s storm-horn independence vanished, leav- 
ing her weak and trembling. She had met Emmy’s 
unexpected attack bravely and fought her on her 
own ground. If only she had not given vent to 
that one brief burst of tears. But that dreadful 
letter, in Ruth’s handwriting, had been too much 
for her. She blamed herself for even glancing at 
it. Emmy had taken her unawares, and she had 
fallen unsuspectingly into the trap that had been 
set for her. That she had almost instantly torn 
herself free, mattered little. The torture of that 
fleeting instant would linger indefinitely. Ruth, 
of whom she had fondly believed all things good 
and noble, had proved herself unworthy of trust. 
How could she have been so cruel as to write that 
letter to Betty? To be sure Ruth had confided 
to her while on the train that she had not been 
prepared to welcome her as a cousin. She had not 
minded that. She had laughed over the ridicu- 
lous impression of her which Ruth confessed to 

191 


192 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

having formed. Ruth had been extremely care- 
ful, however, not to mention that she had passed 
that impression on to Betty. This amounted to 
a deceit of which Marian had not dreamed Ruth 
capable. 

She felt that she could have forgiven her even 
that. The hurt lay in the fact that, while Ruth 
had deceitfully pretended to be displeased at 
Emmy’s unreasonable jealousy, declaring that she 
would stand by her cousin no matter what hap- 
pened, she had, almost in the same breath, ex- 
pressed profound disapprobation of her to Emmy. 
Had not Emmy said that Ruth kept very little 
from her? Betty, too, had not desired her as a 
guest. She had invited her merely to simplify mat- 
ters for Ruth. With a guest in her home, Mrs. 
Gamier would not have allowed her daughter to 
join the house-party. It was probable that Ruth 
had stated this in the letter. If the rest of that 
letter tallied with the beginning, what must Betty 
have thought of her ? And Betty had given Emmy 
the letter to read. How else could she have come 
by it? If Emmy knew that she had been invited 
to the house-party simply to pave the way for 
Ruth, then the other girls must know it also. 
They were so good-natured, possibly they had 


The One Way Out 


193 


entered into a private agreement to treat her well, 
even though she were an intruder. 

To a proud sensitive nature like Marian’s this 
thought was intolerable. How blind she had been ! 
She had mistaken forced friendliness for friend- 
ship. The girls had not really liked her, they had 
merely endured her. Too deeply wounded now 
for tears, Marian paced the floor in an agony of 
humiliation. Pausing at last before one of the 
windows, she parted the white, ruffled curtains 
and stared drearily out. The window faced the 
rear approach to the Roost, and as she tarried 
there, a tragic figure of mingled uncertainty and 
despair, her eyes glimpsed a line of familiar forms 
mounting the slope below the house. 

With a low exclamation of dismay, Marian left 
the window. Hastily donning her hat, she fled 
from the room and down the stairs. She could 
not yet bring herself to face the returning girls. 
She wished to be alone to decide her further 
course of action. As she stepped out on the ve- 
randa she was glad to note that it was deserted of 
occupants. Above all, she did not wish to see 
Emmeline Cerrito. In order to a-void the oncom- 
ing girls, she set out in the direction of Lookout 
Pass. It was not long until she had rounded the 


194 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

corner of the bluff where the trail began, and was 
well down the Pass. She did not slacken her pace 
until she had reached the spot where the natural 
pass ended and the trail continued up the little 
hill and down again on the other side to merge 
into the space of open ground beyond. Marian 
paused at the foot of the green slope, undecided 
where to go. 

She was now completely out of sight of the 
Roost. She longed to find a sheltered spot where 
she might sit down quietly and think. Her stray- 
ing eyes happening to light upon a blackened 
stump a little to one side of the trail, half-con- 
cealed by tall, thick-growing bushes, she walked 
over to it, parted the tangled greenery and seated 
herself upon the stump. The grateful silence of 
the place, broken only by the gently-rustling 
leaves of the neighboring trees, or the plaintive 
note of a forest bird, soothed her troubled mind. 
Here, at least, all was peace. Hidden from the 
world by the walls of living green, she might bat- 
tle with her problem undisturbed. 

Beginning at those happy days spent at the 
Garniers, she went sadly over all that had since 
occurred. As is usually the case with extremely 
sensitive persons, the humiliating conviction that 


The One Way Out 


195 


she was an intruder magnified each trifling event, 
causing it to point plainly to the bitter knowledge 
that she had forced herself into the company of 
those who did not desire her presence. Now there 
remained but one alternative. She must go to her 
own home, and at once. Moreover, she must slip 
away quietly. No one at the Roost should dis- 
cover that she had gone until she was well away 
from the Catskills. But how was she to take her 
departure without being seen? 

Before Marian had time to consider the answer 
to this question, her meditations were unexpect- 
edly interrupted. The crackling sound of break- 
ing brush, trodden under foot by someone coming 
down the Pass, assailed her ears. Her mind leap- 
ing to the possibility that one or more of the girls 
had missed her and set out to find her, Marian 
crouched low among the protecting bushes. She 
did not wish them to find her, nor did she at that 
moment care to see them. 

As she peered cautiously out from between the 
leaves, she gave a faint gasp of astonishment. 
The two figures about to ascend the hill were cer- 
tainly not those of any of her companions. 
Nevertheless, one of them was alarmingly famil- 
iar. A tall, fierce-eyed woman, whose black dress 


196 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

accentuated her terrifying features, stalked 
grimly by Marian’s hiding place, leading or rather 
dragging beside her a tiny boy, whose baby feet 
were engaged in a futile struggle to keep pace 
with those of his glowering companion. The child 
was attired in a faded brown linen suit, and his 
shabby little shoes were gray with dust. A round 
hat of cheap straw completed his costume, and 
from under it looked a pair of the most pathetic 
blue eyes that Marian had ever seen. He had a 
pale, sensitive face from which all the joy of 
happy childhood was missing, and his lips drooped 
at the corners as though he were on the verge of 
crying but afraid to do so. 

Just as this strangely-assorted couple passed 
Marian, the woman jerked the boy savagely by the 
arm. 66 ’Urry! ’Urry ! 99 she commanded. “ You 
not ’urry, I w’ip.” Terror looking from his blue 
eyes, the boy stumbled along in a desperate effort 
at speed, and so they passed on up the hill and 
out of sight. 

Remaining in concealment only until they had 
disappeared, Marian bounded out from among 
the bushes and started up the Pass at a swing- 
ing walk. For the time being all thought of self 
had taken wing. At sight of the black-garbed fig- 


The One Way Out 


197 


ure a daring plan had leaped to her brain. This 
woman was the mysterious occupant of the haunted 
cottage, who had so fiercely objected to hers and 
Frances’ intrusion on the day when they had inno- 
cently peeped in the window of the old house. 

Marian smiled bitterly as she recalled the event. 
She was destined, it seemed, always to be an in- 
truder. Very well, she would continue to live up 
to her reputation. She had promised herself that 
she would find out more about the occupants of 
the haunted cottage. There could be no better 
time than the present in which to keep her vow. 
With the mistress of the .gingerbread house a^ay, 
she could prowl about the place at will, provided 
there were no other inmates to resent her tres- 
passing. She wished to satisfy herself on at 
least one point. Were there other children at 
the cottage? If this were so, then Betty had no 
doubt been correct in her supposition that the 
woman was merely a poor creature, driven to a 
hatred of the well-to-do in general by her strug- 
gle to bring up a family on little or nothing. Betty 
had promised to make inquiry concerning the 
woman, but in the busy round of good times that 
had followed their hike to Sunset Rock she had 
forgotten. 


198 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

The memory of the tiny boy’s pathetic little 
face, with its solemn blue eyes, haunted Marian 
as she hurried along. A new problem now con- 
fronted her. How could she emerge from the 
Pass and cross the fields to the cottage without 
being seen from the Roost. With the girls inside 
the house, it would be easy. Marian devoutly 
hoped they would be inside. Luckily for her, they 
were at that moment upstairs, drying their wet 
hair. Even Emmy was not visible. 

Finding the coast clear, Marian dashed out of 
the Pass, made a wide detour of the Roost and 
was oft and across the fields on the run. She 
wished to put distance between herself and the 
house. If she were then seen, she would be too far 
away to permit hailing. It was farther to the cot- 
tage than she had supposed. On her first visit 
to it with Frances as her companion, the way had 
not seemed long. At last she was clambering 
down the steep slope above it, to bring up pres- 
ently among the tall beech trees that hemmed it 
in. Pausing behind one of them, she listened in- 
tently, her eyes fastened on the dingy house. A 
kind of uncanny solitude hung over it that mad,e 
her wish she had not come. 

Conquering her brief dread, she approached the 


The One Way Out 


199 


selfsame window into which she and Frances had 
stared, and brushing away the cobwebs, peered 
inside. No living thing rose to protest against 
her curiosity. The inside of the cottage presented 
its usual poverty-stricken appearance, and no 
sound issued from within. Emboldened by her 
first venture, she slipped cautiously around the 
cottage, peeping into the windows as she went. 
Still no sign of life greeted her. Coming to the 
back door, she doubled her fist, hesitated, then 
beat an energetic tattoo on the timeworn panels. 
It brought no answer. Then she repeated the 
experiment on the front door, with no other result 
than bruised knuckles. 

Her failure to find anyone at home went far 
toward proving that the wailing cry they had 
heard that other morning came from the lips of 
the child she had lately seen. She doubted the 
supposition that he had either brothers or sis- 
ters. If he had, they were certainly not in evi- 
dence. As for the mother, provided she were his 
mother, as Marian also doubted, she was from 
all appearances hardly a fit parent for this deli- 
cate, ethereal-looking boy. The case would bear 
looking into. Glancing up at the sky she noted 
that the sun had disappeared behind the clouds 


200 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

that were beginning to loom np darkly in the 
west. She turned reluctantly away from this 
house of mystery, resolved that her last act before 
leaving the Boost should be one of mercy. She 
would privately put the matter before Betty, just 
before retiring that night, relate all she had seen 
and urge her not to delay her inquiry. She pre- 
ferred to do this secretly, as she was not in the 
humor for recounting her adventure to the others. 

As Marian retraced her steps toward the Roost, 
once more her own sorrows laid heavy hold upon 
her. While she walked she planned her flitting. 
She would pack her trunk the following morning, 
at a time when Ruth was absent from the room. 
In the early afternoon she would steal away on 
the pretense of going for si walk down the Pass, 
and continue on to Haines Falls. She would stop 
at Silver Birch Inn for dinner, write a note from 
there, simply stating that she had found it neces- 
sary to go home, giving directions regarding the 
shipping of her baggage. She would mail the 
note on her way to the evening train. It would 
be received at the Roost the next morning, when 
the girls could have a general rejoicing because 
she had removed her obnoxious presence from 
their midst. Marian’s feelings had quite run 


The One Way Out 


201 


away with her, but under the existing circum- 
stances she could hardly be blamed for taking so 
pessimistic a view of matters. 

When in full sight of the Roost, she spied a 
girlish figure leaning out of a window, waving 
wildly at her. It disappeared, only to reappear 
on the lawn, and dash to meet her at a reckless 
speed. 

“ Where on earth have you been? ” demanded 
Frances breathlessly. “I’ve been looking high 
and low for you. The girls are planning to have 
a sing to-night on the veranda, so you can guess 
what is due to happen.” 

“ You mean — ” 

“ The ghost party, of course, ” broke in Frances 
gleefully. “I haven’t found the stilts, but I’ve 
annexed some ghostly, ghastly sheets. We’ll pow- 
der our faces dead white and, presto ! some scare 
for the sentimental warblers. The night is going 
to be good and dark. See those clouds? I only 
hope it doesn’t rain. It would put a stop to the 
ghost walk.” 

It was on Marian’s tongue to refuse. Then a 
sudden warmth of affection for this merry, mis- 
chievous girl rose within her, causing her to say 
instead, “ All right. I’ll be with you.” Some- 


202 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

how she could not help feeling that Frances really 
liked her. They had been such good comrades. 
Perhaps, after all, Frances alone knew nothing 
of the slighting way in which the others regarded 
her. Frances was too boyishly full of mischief to 
gossip. It would be as well to maintain her usual 
friendly attitude toward the girls up to the time 
of her flight. She did not wish them to suspect 
that all was not well with her. It would be hard 
to be her usual self with Ruth. But she thought 
she could carry off the dissimulation for one night. 
She had a strong premonition that Emmy would 
not betray to anyone what had passed between 
them that afternoon. It would not redound to 
her credit to do so. At dinner she would meet 
them all with a smiling face. To-night meant one 
thing; to-morrow another. But to-morrow would 
find the unwelcome guest many miles from Wan- 
derer’s Roost. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


AN EXCITING GHOST WALK 

True to Frances ’ prediction, a lowering, cloud- 
hung twilight ushered in a night sufficiently dark 
to entice any adventurous ghost to walk abroad. 
Despite the threat of storm in the heavy clouds, 
no rain fell. An obliging wind rose to the occa- 
sion and sighed dismally through the trees, 
greatly to Frances ’ delight. 

“ We couldn’t have chosen a better night,” she 
whispered to Marian, as, dinner finished, the girls 
flocked to the veranda for their sing. “ We’ll go 
out there with them. They won’t begin to sing 
for a while yet. If they propose it I’ll say, ‘ Oh, 
let’s wait until a little later before we begin.’ 
Then I’ll start an argument with Jane. I’ve a 
fine one ready. While we are holding forth, you 
must fade away and disappear. Sit near the door, 
so you won’t he noticed. I’m going to start Jane 
on an argument about a play we went to last 
winter. It was on her birthday, so of course she’ll 
remember it. I shall ask her if it was on the 
tenth of January. She will say it was on the 
203 


204 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

fifteenth. Then I will ask her if she is sure of 
that. You can imagine what plain J ane will say. 
Then I’ll say, ‘ Let me see, I believe I have that 
very programme in my trunk. * I have. I brought 
it along on purpose to tease her. 

“ She will instantly order me to produce it, 
simply to prove that she is right. I will go up- 
stairs to get it, but I won’t return by the way I 
went. You must be all ready when I come up. 
The sheets and the powder are in my room ; also 
two pairs of white shoes. When I don’t appear, 
the girls will think I am still hunting the fateful 
programme. But instead I’ll be streaking down 
the back stairs, enveloped in a fateful sheet. It 
will have to be quick work, but trust that to me. 
As I leave the veranda to go upstairs, I’ll say, 

‘ Better start your sing, girls, while you are wait- 
ing for me.’ That will sound self-sacrificing and 
noble.” Frances chuckled boyishly. “They are 
pretty sure to do it. Just as they begin to warble 
sweetly we’ll appear in all our ghostly habili- 
ments. If they don’t scare, but start to chase you, 
run like a hunter. If they catch us they will be 
sure to pay us for trying to scare them.” 

Marian listened smilingly to these well-planned 
directions. Mischievous Frances, with her joy- 


An Exciting Ghost Walk 


205 


ous habit of extracting endless fun out of life, 
was irresistible. 

Things happened exactly as Frances had de- 
creed them to happen. Once gathered on the 
veranda, the girls began a lively talking-bee. Al- 
though Emmeline Cerrito had not spoken to 
Marian at dinner, she was so uniformly pleasant 
to the others that this circumstance passed un- 
noticed. She was particularly sweet to Euth, 
climbing into the porch swing beside her, and 
throwing an affectionate arm across Ruth’s shoul- 
ders. As Marian guessed, she had no intention 
of betraying herself. What she desired most was 
to be rid of Marian. She had correctly appraised 
the latter, and had made her bold attack believ- 
ing that Marian would act precisely as she had 
planned to do. 

When, at length, Sarah proposed that they be- 
gin their sing, Frances carried out her part of the 
programme to the letter. Marian smiled as J ane ’s 
voice rose in an indignant assertion that she 
certainly knew the date on which her birthday 
came. Under cover of the argument which rose 
Marian slipped away, unnoticed even by Emmy, 
who was too busy ingratiating herself with Ruth 
to pay much attention to anything else. 


206 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

It was but a moment’s work to drape the 
“ ghostly, ghastly” sheet over her head and 
about her, and pin it securely together. Making 
up her face, according to direction, and slipping 
on the tennis shoes which Frances had thought- 
fully abstracted from Marian’s room, she was 
ready to ha’nt the unsuspecting singers. Frances 
was not long behind her. Dashing into the room 
with a joyful giggle, she was into her make-up in 
a twinkling. As silently as the proverbial specter 
is said to move, two sheeted forms stole softly 
down the back stairs and into the night, narrowly 
missing an encounter with the cook, who appeared 
on the back porch just as they vanished around 
the corner of the house. 

In the meantime, Frances’ noble thoughtfulness 
had borne fruit. The singers were nicely started 
on “ Then You’ll Remember Me,” and were lift- 
ing up their voices tunefully. 

“ They’ll remember us, all right,” muttered 
Frances. “Now!” 

“ There may, perchance, at such a time, 
Some recollection be — ” 
warbled the chorus. The “ be ” ended in a pierc- 
ing shriek of horror from Jane. She leaned far 
forward in her chair, pointing a shaking finger at 


An Exciting* Ghost Walk 


207 


two terrifying white forms which were gliding ma- 
jestically across the lawn in the direction of the 
Pass. Her scream was the signal for a general 
alarm. For a moment the shock of seeing these 
gruesome apparitions had its effect on the erst- 
while placid vocalists. 

‘ 6 It’s a ha hit,” quavered Jane. “ I’ve always 
known there were such things, but I never ex- 
pected to see one.” Her trembling tones held a 
note of awe. 

“ Ha hit nothing!” sputtered Sarah Manning. 
A great light had broken upon her. “It’s that 
wicked Frances and — yes — Marian is missing. 
Let’s chase them, girls, and pay them for scar- 
ing us so.” 

Sarah’s blunt tones brought reassurance and 
bravery to the victims of the joke. With one 
accord they clattered down the steps in a head- 
long race toward the Pass. 

“ They’re coming!” exclaimed Frances. The 
two ghosts had halted just out of sight to await 
developments. “ Run, Marian, for all you’re 
worth! ” 

Marian started down the Pass in a hurry, run- 
ning like a hunted fawn. Frances essayed to fol- 
low her, but her ghost robe wound itself about her 


208 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

feet, causing her to sprawl headfirst into a very 
thorny blackberry bush. A shout from above in- 
formed Marian that disaster had overtaken her 
specter comrade. She slackened her pace, then 
halted. Laughing cries of, “ Take her back to 
the house and slay her! ” and, “Annihilate the 
ghost !” warned Marian to stay where she was. 
Unafraid in the dense darkness, she stumbled her 
way farther down the Pass. She would wait a 
little, then take off her incriminating sheet and 
walk sedately back to the house. Intent on pun- 
ishing the fun-loving Frances, they would in all 
probability go on without trying to catch her. Re- 
ceding voices, mingled with howls of protest from 
Frances, informed her that the latter was on her 
way to receive her just dues. 

With a faint sigh, Marian raised her arm to 
begin the work of transforming a ha’nt into a 
somber-faced young woman. 

“Mi madre! A-h-h, mi madre!" The poig- 
nant scream of terror caused Marian to whirl in 
her tracks. She started forward on the run. 
Again the cry echoed down the Pass. This time 
the shrill frightened notes of a childish voice 
mingled with it. Heavily running footsteps and 
the sharp crackling of underbrush told her that 


An Exciting Ghost Walk 


209 


at sight of her some one had been put to frenzied 
flight. The sound of a fall, followed by a baby’s 
cry of pain, sent Marian racing forward through 
the darkness. Stumbling over what might have 
been a small log, except that logs are not soft and 
yielding, neither do they move, Marian cried out 
in alarm. Stooping, she raised the object against 
which she had stumbled in her arms. Too dark to 
see, she could only guess at what she held. 

“Don’t be frightened, dear,” she soothed. 
“I’m not a ghost, even if I do look like one.” 

Only a long shuddering breath answered her. 
Frightened at the consequence of what had been 
intended as play, Marian sped up the Pass as fast 
as the darkness would allow her to travel. It was 
a very subdued ghost that hurried across the lawn 
and up the steps of the Roost with its strange 
burden. 

“Oh, you ghost!” Jane made a dive for 
Marian, then shrilled an amazed, * ‘ Quick, girls ! 
See what Marian has found.” 

The girls had already seen. Half a dozen 
hands reached out to relieve her of the little fig- 
ure that lay limp within her arms. It was Betty 
who carried the child into the living room, fol- 
lowed by her excited friends. Laying the 


210 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

youngster on the davenport, she turned to Ma- 
rian. “ What — where — did you find him? ” she 
stammered. 

Marian had torn off the sheet, brushed the pow- 
der from her face and was now eagerly scrutiniz- 
ing the tiny boy in the faded brown linen suit. 
His little round hat was gone, and his closely- 
cropped brown hair made him look more frail than 
ever. He blinked at his preservers in an ecstasy 
of mingled wonder and terror. 6 ‘ It’s the same 
child,’ ’ Marian murmured. Then she began a 
rapid account of the afternoon’s events, finish- 
ing with the final startling denouement that had 
taken place in the Pass. 

‘ ‘That woman will come back for him,” as- 
serted Betty positively. 6 6 When she gets over 
her fright she will realize that someone has been 
playing a joke.” 

“ What is your name, little boy? ” Ruth knelt 
beside the davenport and took the child’s hand in 
hers. 

“ Wawa Taywee,” lisped the child, his large 
blue eyes solemnly fixed on Ruth. 

“ He must be Japanese! ” exclaimed Jane. 

“ Japanese! ” scoffed Sarah. “ He’s no more a 
Jap than I am. Look at his blue eyes.” 


An Exciting Ghost Walk 


211 


“ Where is your mother, dear? ” queried Ruth. 

44 Probably at Haines Falls by this time, ,, gig- 
gled Frances. 

4 4 That was a foolish question , 9 y Ruth admitted 
with a smile. 4 4 1 should have said, 4 Who is your 
mother? ’ Is that tall dark lady your mother? ” 
she went on. 

The child shook his head. 4 4 Mamma *s goned 
’way. Wawa is hung’y.” His lip quivered 
ominously. 

44 Bless his heart! ” Ruth picked him up bodily 
and cuddled him in her arms. 4 4 Poor little mite ! ’ ’ 

44 What is the matter, girls? ” Miss Wyndham 
appeared in the doorway. She had been in the 
kitchen, taking account of supplies on hand. In 
consequence she had missed the ghost party. 

A volley of explanations was hurled at her by 
half a dozen voices. After much volubility she 
arrived at an understanding of the situation. 
44 I’ll bring him something to eat,” she an- 
nounced, and hastened from the room, to return 
shortly with a bowl of bread and milk. Seating 
herself in a chair, she took the boy on her lap and 
began to feed him. He soon took matters into 
his own hands by seizing the spoon and putting 
away the refreshment offered him in hungry little 


212 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

gulps, while the girls gathered sympathetically 
about him and watched him eat. 

“ More b’ed’n’ mi’k,” he demanded. “ Wawa 
is hung’y.” 

His imperious request was met with a fresh 
supply of his order. This time Betty brought it, 
Miss Wyndham continuing to hold him. “ 1 ’ove 
’oo,” he approved, patting her cheek when he 
had finished. “ Wawa is ti’de.” 

“He means he is tired/ ’ translated Anne. 
“ Surely his mother will come for him soon.” 

“We had better lay him down on the davenport 
and let him sleep until she does appear,” decided 
Miss Wyndham. 

“ Suppose she shouldn’t come back,” remarked 
Frances thoughtfully. 

1 ‘ Then we will put him to bed, ’ ’ returned Miss 
Wyndham. “ He can sleep with Betty and me.” 

“ Oh, let me take him into my room, Miss 
Wyndham ! ’ ’ came eagerly from Emmy. She had 
been a rather silent spectator of the scene. Some- 
thing in Marian’s face, alive with compassion, as 
she mounted the steps carrying the child, had 
touched a hitherto unawakened chord in Emmy’s 
emotional nature. For a moment she was bit- 
terly sorry for her cruelty of the afternoon. 


An Exciting Ghost Walk 


213 


Emmy bent over the boy and kissed him. He 
gazed at her sleepily, then slowly sitting up said 
joyously, “I ’ove oo. Oo ’ooks 'ike Wawa’s 
mamma. ’ ’ 

A laugh went up at this unexpected informa- 
tion. Marian’s description of the strange woman 
had been most unflattering. 

Emmy turned red, then, odd to relate, she 
laughed. Her smile quickly faded, a curious half- 
startled expression flashed into her black eyes. 
“I don’t believe that woman is this child’s 
mother,” she asserted. “You needn’t laugh, 
Sarah. I’m not trying to crawl out of my re- 
semblance to your tiger lady. Still, I think this 
boy means that I look like his own mother. There ’s 
something queer about all this. What did you say 
that woman screamed out, Marian?” In her 
excitement Emmy completely forgot her antag- 
onism. 

“I’m not sure.” Marian’s voice was steady. 
In it there was no hint of rancor. This was not 
a time in which to maintain a hostile attitude. 
“ It was something about 4 me ’ — ( me’ — I can’t 
think of the other word. It sounded foreign. I 
don’t believe she is his mother. She’s not an 
American, you know. ’ ’ 


214 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“I didn’t know. Was it — let me see — was 
it — ‘mi madre’l” asked Emmy. 

“ Yes; that was it! ” Marian showed surprise 
at the accurate guess. 

“ Then that helps to prove that she isn’t this 
child’s mother. This boy is an American, or else 
I’m very much mistaken. ‘Mi madre 9 is the 
Spanish for ‘my mother.’ It’s a common ex- 
clamation among the Spanish. The woman must 
be a Spaniard. Perhaps the boy has been ab- 
ducted. If she comes here to-night, don’t let her 
take him away, Miss Wyndham, until we find 
out that he really belongs to her.” 

“I won’t,” was Miss Wyndham ’s firm assur- 
ance. “A woman who would desert a child as 
she abandoned this baby isn’t worthy the name 
of mother. We will sit up and wait for her until 
eleven o’clock; then we’ll put him to bed.” 

“ In my room,” pleaded Emmy, her dark eyes 
glowing. 

“ Very well,” assented the older woman. 

“Let’s fix up a really dramatic scene for her 
when she comes, ’ ’ suggested J ane. ‘ ‘ Frances can 
put on that beloved sheet of hers and say, ‘ Vil- 
lainess, you are unmasked ! Give me the 
chee-ild! ’ ” 


An Exciting Ghost Walk 


215 


“ You may be a specter if you like, plain Jane. 
I’ve bad enough of ghost walking for one night. 
I’ve been beaten and banged and very rudely 
handled. ’ ’ Frances put on an air of deep injury. 

After placing their unexpected guest on the 
davenport, where he immediately fell asleep, the 
party settled themselves to wait the doubtful ar- 
rival of the villainess. At fifteen minutes past 
eleven she had not materialized, and at twenty 
minutes past that hour a procession of nine women 
climbed the stairs to bed, led by Emmeline Cer- 
rito, who bore in her arms the waif to whom she 
had taken such an astonishing fancy. 

Long after Euth was fast asleep Marian lay 
wide awake, staring into the darkness. The un- 
precedented happening which had followed on 
the heels of the ghost party, had wrecked her 
carefully-laid plans for leaving on the morrow. 
She was anxious to stay and see the outcome of 
the night’s adventure. Then, too, she fancied she 
had glimpsed a curiously appealing look in 
Emmy’s eyes when she had addressed her. Was 
it better to put distance between herself and these 
girls, or would it be more thoroughbred in her to 
stay and finish the visit she had begun? 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE AWAKENING OF EMMELINE CERRITO 

The next morning broke with no sign of last 
night’s threatening clouds. The sun came up witH 
a smiling brilliancy which indicated his determi- 
nation to remain all day. The Equitable Eight 
were awake early, and stirring, for mystery 
stalked at their gates and they were eager to see 
what the day might bring forth. “ Wawa Tay- 
wee,” the bit of human driftwood that had found 
harbor in their midst, was the guest of honor at 
breakfast that morning. 

Horrified at the neglected condition of the 
youngster’s body, which also bore sundry telltale 
black and blue marks, Emmy had carried him to 
the bathroom and scrubbed him energetically. His 
vociferous gurgles of joy during the bath con- 
vinced her that at some time or other bathing had 
been a part of his day ’s routine. He was serenely 
at home in the tub and accepted his bath with 
joyful shouts and chuckles. His timidity van- 
ished, he kept up a lively chatter, but though she 
listened sharply, his baby remarks conveyed to 
216 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 217 

her no information of who he really was or whence 
he had come. She judged that he was perhaps 
four years old, yet his inability to talk plainly 
made him appear even younger. 

While she was reattiring him in the shabby gar- 
ments in which he had arrived, the girls dropped 
in, one by one, to pay him court. All except 
Marian. Much as she wished to see the child, she 
could not bring herself to enter Emmy’s room. 
Highly gratified at the attention he was receiv- 
ing, Wawa Taywee conducted himself with the 
air of a young potentate, and by the time that he 
had made a triumphal entry into the dining room 
on Betty’s shoulder it was quite plain to he seen 
who ruled the Boost. 

The girls spent an anxious morning on the ve- 
randa, keeping a vigilant watch on the Pass, in 
the expectation of seeing the beetle-browed woman 
appear therefrom to claim the charge she had so 
cravenly deserted. Noon came and nothing hap- 
pened. At luncheon little else was discussed. It 
had been decided that in the event of her non- 
arrival, the proper authorities at Haines Falls 
should be informed of the circumstances and a 
description of the boy given. But on one point 
they were all firm. Wawa, as they had already 


218 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

begun to call him, should remain at the Eoost 
until his identity was fully established. They 
would fight, if necessary, to keep him. There 
seemed little probability that they would be called 
upon to do this. The Wyndhams’ social standing 
in the community was of enough importance to in- 
sure acquiescence to their request to be allowed 
to house the child temporarily. 

After luncheon Wawa was banished to Emmy’s 
room for a nap, while the girls wandered rest- 
lessly about the house and grounds, unable to set- 
tle themselves to any definite amusement while 
the waif’s fate still hung in the balance. Pres- 
ently they all drifted back to the veranda again, 
there to resume their watch. 

“ Let’s go down the Pass for a walk,” Jane 
proposed to Sarah. * i If the tiger lady comes, 
we’ll see her first. Then we can scuttle back to 
the Roost and give the alarm.” 

“All right,” agreed Sarah. “I’m willing to 
be a busy little herald.” 

The announcement of their intention inspired 
in the breast of the others a similar desire to 
perambulate, and after notifying Miss Wyndham, 
and charging her to keep an eye on Wawa, the 
Equitable Eight set forth. Loitering along 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 219 

through the Pass, they visited the spot where 
Marian had sat concealed when she first saw the 
woman and the child. Wandering on to the clear- 
ing, where the road to Haines Falls began, they 
walked a little distance over it. 

Finally turning back, they climbed the little hill. 
Finding a fallen log of convenient size and length 
on the crest of the elevation, they seated them- 
selves in a row. Marian took care to place her- 
self as far as she could from Emmy. She was 
anxious to avoid even the appearance of an es- 
trangement which the others would be quick to 
note. Emmy was of the same mind. She had put 
in an uneasy night with her conscience, and she 
was not in the least happy over the havoc she had 
wrought. 

“ Let’s tell a tale,” proposed Frances, who sat 
on one end of the log next to J ane, and to whom 
she continually appealed to give her more room. 
“I’ll begin it. When I get well started, Jane 
can take it up, and so on. It’s a lot of fun. Ahem ! 
Once upon a time there was an aged man — ” 

“ There he comes now! ” ejaculated Sarah, ris- 
ing to her feet with a suddenness that threatened 
catastrophe to her companions. “Look at him! 
He’s the very image of Father Time.” 


220 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“Didn’t know you knew the gentleman by 
sight,” gibed Frances. 

Sarah did not reply to this witticism. Her eyes 
were fixed on the approaching figure. To all ap- 
pearances he was indeed a very old man. His 
long white beard hung far down on his chest, 
and under his black, broad-brimmed slouch hat 
his snowy hair almost touched his shoulders. His 
nondescript garments had the weatherbeaten air 
that betokened constant living in the woods, and 
his shoes were covered with dust. 

Up the hill he came at a good pace for one of 
his years, evincing no surprise at seeing the row 
of girls perched on the log. 

‘ ‘ How do you do, young ladies ? ” he greeted, 
removing his hat, while his brown face broke into 
a wrinkling smile. His kindly blue eyes, under 
shaggy white brows, gave hint of a mild and 
friendly disposition. 

“Rip Van Winkle himself,” whispered the ir- 
repressible Frances, leaning forward with a jerk 
that came within an inch of unseating her. The 
next instant Frances turned very red. The new- 
comer had heard and was now regarding her 
gravely. 

“ How do you do? ” came from Ruth and Betty. 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 221 

The old man seemed not to hear them. He 
was still staring at Frances. “ You are a very 
bright young woman/ ’ he said. “ How did you 
guess that I was Rip Van Winkle? ” 

Frances was stricken dumb at this amazing 
question. The man was undoubtedly a lunatic. 

“Yes,” he went on placidly, without seeming 
to notice her lack of response. “ I am indeed he. 
Hot the Rip Van Winkle of whom you have no 
doubt read, but a. descendant of his. Our family 
goes back to the very man who slept away twenty 
years here in the Catskills.” 

“ I believe I have heard of you.” Betty’s calm 
voice brought assurance to the somewhat alarmed 
listeners. Convinced that this strange old man 
was insane, they were on the verge of making a 
wholesale exodus from the danger spot. “My 
father has often told me of you. You have lived 
in the Catskills for years, have you not? ” 

“ Certainly. All the Van Winkles have lived 
here. But who is your father? ” 

Betty told him. 

“I don’t remember him,” was the disconcert- 
ing reply. ‘ 1 That is, I do not remember his name. 
Names are quite troublesome. But I can remem- 
ber faces.” He beamed at Betty. 


222 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

By this time seven girls were devoured with 
curiosity as to the whys and wherefores of this 
remarkable individual with whom Betty was on 
such friendly terms. The longer she talked with 
him, the more puzzled they became. He was un- 
doubtedly a man of education. Except for his 
allusions to himself as Rip Van Winkle, he was 
absolutely rational. It was impossible not to be- 
come interested in his quaint conversation. He 
was well-versed in the lore of the Catskills and 
soon they joined in the conversation, asking nu- 
merous eager questions which he answered with 
smiling serenity. 

At length he bade them good-bye, stating that 
he was going on through the Pass and from there 
to his hut in the mountains about five miles dis- 
tant. He made them a queer old-fashioned bow, 
clapped on his soft hat, which he had courteously 
continued to hold, and started down the hillside 
toward the Pass with long strides that soon car- 
ried him out of sight. 

“For goodness sake, who is he? ” exploded 
J ane, the instant he passed out of hearing. “ He’s 
crazy, beyond a doubt. I was frightened when he 
kept insisting that he was Rip Van Winkle. He 
seems sane enough about other things, though.” 







“ How did you guess that I was Rip Van Winkle? ” 








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The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 223 

Jane’s thirst for information regarding the 
peculiar old man was echoed by her companions. 

“ The minute he said he was Rip Van Winkle,” 
explained Betty, “ I knew all about him. He’s a 
character up here. His real name is Daniel Bur- 
roughs. He used to be a great hunter and a ; guide. 
About ten years ago, long before father bought 
the Roost, he fell down a mountain while on a 
hunting trip with some friends, and injured his 
head. It happened during a storm and his friends 
didn’t know that he had met with an accident 
until hours after he fell. When he failed to come 
back to their camp they went out to look for him, 
and when, finally, they found him, he was deli- 
rious. They took him to a hospital and after a 
good many weeks he got well, but he was never 
quite himself again. 

“ He couldn’t remember things, and he wouldn’t 
stay in his home at Haines Falls, but went to 
live in a little cabin about five miles from here. 
Then he began wandering around the country tell- 
ing folks that he was a descendant of Rip Van 
Winkle. I’ve heard my father speak of him ever 
so many times, but I never saw him before to-day. 
He’s absolutely harmless and really well-liked 
in this region.” 


224: The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“But what did his family do when he wan- 
dered off and wouldn’t come back? ” asked Anne. 

“ Oh, he hasn’t a family,” Betty returned. “He 
never married. He had a housekeeper, but after 
he was hurt she went away to take another posi- 
tion. He isn’t poor. He has enough money to 
keep him comfortably. He lives in that lonely 
cabin because he likes it, I suppose. We might 
pay him a visit some day soon — provided we can 
find him at home.” 

‘ ‘ That would be jolly ! ’ ’ approved Ruth. “ He ’s 
a dear old man. I know he could tell us some 
wonderful stories.” 

“I felt awfully silly when I found he’d heard 
me say he looked like Rip Yan Winkle,” con- 
fessed Frances, “ but it seems I paid him a com- 
pliment.” 

“We’d better go back to the house,” remarked 
Marian uneasily. “ Suppose that woman came to 
the Roost by the back road. ” 

“ Aren’t we a pack of geese? ” was Jane’s dis- 
gusted comment. “We’ve been hanging about 
the Pass without a thought of that back road.” 

“I’ve been watching for you, girls, for the past 
half hour,” greeted Miss Wyndham from her 
chair on the veranda as they came up. “A friend 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 225 

of Betty’s and mine, Mrs. Hildreth, just left here. 
She is staying at the ‘ Idlewild,’ a hotel about 
two miles from here, and came over to make a 
call this morning.’ ’ 

“ I’m so sorry I didn’t see her,” Betty voiced 
her regret. ‘ ‘ I telephoned her the other day to 
come over and meet the girls. She ’s a delightful 
woman and a dear friend. ’ ’ 

“ She has invited us to a party at the hotel 
to-night. It is to he an unusual affair. The 
guests at the Idlemere have been busy for days 
collecting the colored advertising sheets from the 
current magazines. All the printing has been 
obliterated from them, leaving just the pictures. 
These pictures are to be put up in the music room 
of the hotel and from them everyone must try to 
guess the name of the firm who issued them. 
There will be several prizes given. Do you think 
you would like to go? ” 

A unanimous “ Yes,” rent the air. This prom- 
ised to be a novelty worth while. 

“ Very well, I will telephone the Idlemere gar- 
age to send their largest car over for us to-night,” 
stated Miss Wyndham. 

“ Please let me telephone for my car, Miss 
Wyndham,” begged Emmy. “ It will hold us 


226 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

all, even if we shall be a trifle crowded. I’ll drive 
and the chauffeur can wait here until we come 
back.” 

“ I don’t like to trouble you,” demurred Miss 
Wyndham. 

1 ‘ It will be a pleasure. I’m going to phone this 
minute.” Emmy disappeared into the house on 
her errand. 

“ What about Wawa? ” questioned Ruth with 
sudden remembrance. “ We can’t very well take 
him with us. He’s hardly presentable.” 

1 ‘ I have arranged for that. Our cook has prom- 
ised to look after him. He will be perfectly safe 
with her. The maid will be here also. ” 

“ Wawa will be all right with Ellen on guard,” 
laughed Betty. Ellen stood five feet nine in her 
broad-toed shoes and weighed at least two hun- 
dred. “With Ellen on deck, I’d be sorry for 
that woman if she came here. She’d run faster 
than she ran last night. ’ ’ 

This point settled, the girls began to discuss 
the subject of their gowns. As each of them had 
brought with them one or more frocks suitable for 
evening wear, they now hailed the opportunity to 
wear them. 

At half past seven that night Miss Wyndham 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 227 

and a bevy of pretty girls packed themselves into 
Emmy’s car and drove off for an evening’s pleas- 
ure. Ruth sat in front beside Emmy, who was a 
veritable dream of beauty in her imported frock 
of white chiffon. Her white velvet evening coat 
had dropped from her shoulders and as with skil- 
ful hands she sent her car spinning over the moon- 
lit road, she looked like a lovely princess of fairy 
lore. She was moodily silent, however, replying 
absently to Ruth’s bright sallies. Emmy’s con- 
science was hourly becoming a burden and she 
had a wild desire to open her heart to Ruth and 
tell her everything. But she did not know how 
to begin, so she only compressed her red lips and 
devoted her attention to her driving. 

Crowded in the tonneau, among the laughing, 
chatting girls, Marian, too, was in low spirits. 
She blamed herself severely for allowing her de- 
sire to participate in the evening’s gayety to inter- 
fere with her plan for departure. Her one day’s 
grace was almost over. To-morrow morning she 
must make her final decision. 

Idlemere was a most picturesque hostelry, look- 
ing more like a huge rambling cottage than an 
inn. Unlike the majority of the other mountain 
resorts, it stood in an open space surrounded by a 


228 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

wide stretch of treeless lawn, ornamented with 
low-growing shrubs and rosebushes. It was a 
two-story affair, built of spruce and silver birch, 
and was conducted by two dignified old ladies, 
who gave the impression of being the heads of a 
boarding school for young women, rather than the 
managers of an inn. So popular had the little 
hotel become with tourists, that one had to ar- 
range far ahead for accommodations or be doomed 
to the disappointment of being turned politely 
away from its fascinating doors. The center of 
a colony of cottagers who took their meals at the 
inn, Idlemere boasted many homelike comforts 
which other grander hotels lacked. 

The advertising contest was scheduled to take 
place in the music room, a good-sized apartment 
annexed to the main building and opening directly 
off the living room. Its detachment on three sides 
from the body of the inn made it an ideal room 
for dancing or entertainments. Doors on two 
sides opened on the lawn, where guests could stroll 
at will between dances or during intermissions. 
At one end of it was a small platform, on which 
stood a piano. This platform was occasionally 
used as a stage for impromptu theatricals, which 
the guests delighted in getting up. 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 229 

As they entered the music room a bewildering 
array of many-colored advertising cuts greeted 
the girls’ eyes. Burlap screens, collected from 
all over the inn, were thickly plastered with them, 
and the walls were also ornamented with a simi- 
lar display of cuts, held in place by thumb tacks 
at the corners. The apartment was already well 
filled when the party from the Roost arrived, and 
were taken in tow by Mrs. Hildreth, a beautifully- 
gowned woman with a delightful face and a charm- 
ing manner. The proceeds of the affair, each 
guest being required to pay a nominal entrance 
fee, were to be devoted to charity. 

“ How in the world are they ever going to find 
out who really guesses the most? ” was Jane’s 
perplexed question as she scanned the multitude of 
pictures. 

* 1 They are numbered,” replied Betty. “ You 
can see some of the numbers from here.” 

“Oh, I know that one.” Sarah pointed to a 
picture, the originality of which had given it 
world- wide fame. “I’m going to set it down be- 
fore I get interested in the others and forget it.” 

Two pretty children dressed as pages handed 
them large square cards, to which small pencils 
were attached. The girls joined with a will in 


230 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

the contest and were soon wandering about the 
room, peering thoughtfully at the cuts, now and 
then guessing the name of the firm behind them. 
At atmosphere of jollity pervaded the entire com- 
pany, and everyone talked freely to his neighbor 
with a reckless disregard for formal introduc- 
tions. 

“ I’ve guessed twenty of them,” exulted Anne, 
as she and Betty met before a good-sized repre- 
sentation of an exceedingly comfortable smiling 
baby, and paused to consider his business parents. 

“ I’ve more than that,” boasted Betty. “ Let 
me see. One, two, three — why — Anne, what can 
be the matter — is anything happening? ” 

For she had suddenly become conscious of a 
strange change in the laughing, chattering groups 
about her. Why had they all turned their backs 
on her and Anne, and why were they all hurrying 
together so? In place of laughter, there was a 
loud, ominous murmur, a mingling of excited, 
indistinguishable question and answer. She felt 
a thrill of vague alarm, that premonitory sense of 
something terrible on the verge of happening that 
sometimes comes in moments of disaster. 

“ They are going out the doors,” cried Anne, 
gripping at her friend’s arm. 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 231 

“ There’s smoke in the air 1 ” announced Betty, 
in an abrupt comprehension of the exact cause of 
this amazing exodus. “ Don’t you hear them call- 
ing * Fire ! 9 outside? The hotel’s on fire ! Come 
on, Anne ! 99 

The two girls fled to join the stream of fright- 
ened men and women who were making a rapid exit 
through the doorways leading out upon the lawn. 
There was a certain amount of jostling, but on the 
whole it was an orderly, clear-headed rush, and in 
it no one was injured. 

Once they were outside, a column of thick smoke, 
pierced by angry tongues of flame, informed the 
terrified guests that it was in the main body of 
the hotel that the conflagration raged. Built of 
highly inflammable timber, dry with age and the 
fact that little rain had fallen during the summer, 
the picturesque little hostelry was soon wrapped 
in sheets of flame. Had there been an organized 
hose company within call, which there was not, 
their efforts to put out the fire would have availed 
little. The inn blazed like a bonfire, and the fright- 
ened watchers were obliged to draw well back 
from it or run the risk of being hit by blazing 
brands scattered by the strong breeze. 

Separated at first, the party from the Roost 


232 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

gradually managed to get together. Being young 
and imbued with the spirit of adventure, they with- 
drew from the danger zone just far enough for 
safety and no farther. 

“Oh!” gasped Jane Pellew, as a wandering 
cinder landed squarely in her eye. “ Oh, my eye ! 
My eye! ” she wailed, as she pranced about in 
blind agony. Pain rendering her heedless of where 
she set foot she blundered headlong into an exceed- 
ingly thorny rose bush, as though determined to 
emulate the example of that “wondrous wise” 
man of bramble-bush fame. Frances promptly 
dragged her out. For once she did not laugh, but 
extended lavish comfort to the suffering Jane, 
who, after holding the injured eye shut and stren- 
uously rubbing the other, finally achieved the ex- 
traction of the offending cinder. 

“ Stand back, girls,” ordered Miss Wyndham. 
“You are likely to be hit by those blazing sparks . 9 9 
She continued to back away from the danger zone 
as she spoke. Reluctantly her flock made a move- 
mentTas though to obey. They had drawn a trifle 
away from the main body of excited spectators 
who were too busy watching the destruction of the 
inn to pay much attention to them. They had 
lost sight of Mrs. Hildreth when the rush for the 
doors began, but supposed her to be safe. 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 233 

Emmeline Cerrito was the only member of the 
party who paid no heed to Miss Wyndham’s com- 
mand. Her black eyes wide with excitement, she 
began to move forward, rather than back, appar- 
ently oblivious to all else save the fierce snapping 
of the crackling flames as they devoured their 
prey. 

An unusually strong gust of wind swept the 
doomed inn, sending a shower of blazing brands 
into the air. Then a concerted gasp of horror 
went up from those of the house-party who had 
obediently retreated. A good-sized brand had 
lighted squarely on the top of Emmy’s head. It 
caught in her thick black hair, setting it jm fire. 
Before she had a chance to realize what was hap- 
pening to her, a pair of energetic hands was beat- 
ing a tattoo on her head. Then she felt herself 
being drawn back by two determined arms. 

Sick with terror, she saw and heard dimly for 
a moment. She was conscious of being surrounded 
by her companions, who were emitting confused 
exclamations of fright. Mechanically she raised 
her hands to her head. When she lowered them, 
they were filled with wisps of singed hair. Strange 
to say, her head did not pain her. It came to her, 
mistily, that she had miraculously escaped a 


234 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 


dreadful fate. But whose were the hands that had 
beaten out the hungry flame before it had had time 
to do its deadly work? The answer came with 
stunning force as her eyes rested on Marian. Her 
pale face drawn with pain, she was holding out 
her hands, while Euth and Miss Wyndham bent 
over them with little cries of commiseration. Mar- 
ian, the girl she had despised and insulted, had 
saved her from life-long disfigurement, perhaps 
death. 

‘ 1 Marian ! Forgive me ! ’ 7 Unmindful of those 
about her, Emmy flung herself on her knees before 
Marian in an agony of remorse. She clasped her 
arms about the astonished girl, and buried her 
singed head in the fojds of the latter’s skirt. 
Stirred to it^ depths, Emmy’s emotional nature 
demanded complete surrender, regardless of cir- 
cumstances. 

Thrilled* wit! mazement at this curious scene, 
the pe> lately interested in it could only 

wonde leaning as they closed in about the 

two g' 

It vws Euth who first found her voice. “ Get 
up, Emmy,” she ordered authoritatively. “ Hurry, 
before we are noticed and a crowd gathers.” 

Euth’s command wrought the desired effect 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 235 

upon the French girl. She struggled to her feet, 
her black eyes overrunning with tears. Without 
giving her time to utter a word, Euth said shortly, 
‘ ‘ We’d better go at once. Thank goodness the 
car was parked far enough away from the fire to 
put it out of danger.” 

“ Yes ; let us go,” urged Miss Wyndham briefly. 
She had not the remotest inkling of what Emmy’s 
anguished appeal to Marian meant, but she rec- 
ognized the wisdom of Euth’s advice. 

Hushed into silence by reason of that which they 
had just witnessed, the others of the party obe- 
diently prepared to vacate the place of disaster. 
Betty and Anne took Marian under their sympa- 
thetic wing, each holding gently to an arm as they 
conducted her to the car. But> busied herself 
with Emmy, her arm aroun r’s waist as 

she guided the weeping girl a. ? Wyndham 

walked ahead with Sarah, while . . id Frances 
brought up the rear, too completely stumped for 
even the mildest form of conversation. 

“ Shall I drive the car back to the Eoost? ” 
whispered Euth to Emmy. “ You can trust me 
with it. I have often driven our own car.” 

Emmy nodded. She was too much broken up 
for speech. 


236 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Ruth motioned Emmy into the car, then climbed 
into the driver ’s seat beside her. Mutely the rest 
of the party disposed themselves in the tonneau. 
The chugging sound of the car as it moved away 
from the neighborhood of the ill-fated inn some- 
what relieved the tension of the moment. As they 
spun along the smooth road, stretching white in 
the moonlight before them, a low murmur of con- 
versation began in the tonneau. It had to do 
entirely with the fire itself, mingled with much 
sympathy for Marian’s singed hands. Though 
each girl other than Marian was secretly trying 
to plumb the bottom of Emmy’s strange behavior, 
no one of them had the courage to introduce the 
ticklish subject. Marian alone knew the real cause 
of it all. Despite the pain of her singed hands, 
she felt a strange new peace. After all, Emmy did 
not hate her. 

In the driver’s seat, Ruth was giving her atten- 
tion to her task. Meanwhile she was thinking 
busily. Emmy sat huddled beside her like a crushed 
and broken white flower. On rare occasions Ruth 
had seen her cry, but never had she known her 
to give way to such continued, silent weeping. 
Ruth thought she understood. Still, she wondered 
if back of Emmy’s tears there were really some- 


The Awakening of Emmeline Cerrito 237 

thing more than an awakened remorse for her jeal- 
ousy of Marian. It now came to her forcibly that 
yesterday Marian had been strangely silent and 
sad. Had Emmy launched a secret, sharp arrow 
at Marian that had induced her low spirits? It 
seemed hardly plausible. Emmy had been in an 
exceedingly gracious humor since the morning be- 
fore. True, she had been angry the day before 
that, but overnight her displeasure had appar- 
ently taken wing. Ruth tried to bring back the 
memory of Emmy’s attitude toward Marian dur- 
ing the past forty-eight hours. She could not re- 
call anything that hinted of violent rupture. 

No one was sorry when Ruth brought the auto- 
mobile to a standstill just below the Roost. The 
subdued return of the company contrasted oddly 
with its merry start for Idlemere. Confident that 
Emmy preferred to be alone with Ruth, her com- 
panions left them together and went on up the 
slope to the house. 

“ Come on, Emmy,” urged Ruth gently. The 
French girl had stopped beside her car, as though 
trying to pull herself together. “You are com- 
pletely upset from your narrow escape.” 


CHAPTER XX 


RIGHTING A GREAT WRONG 

Immediately after Marian made her brave dash 
to Emmy’s rescue, Betty had pleaded with her to 
seek one of the near-by cottages and have her 
blistered hands attended to. Marian would not 
listen to this, however. Although her pale face 
and compressed lips indicated her suffering, she 
made light of her hurts, declaring that she would 
prefer to wait until the return to the Roost be- 
fore receiving treatment. Her hands were only 
slightly burned, she insisted, and the pain would 
soon stop. 

When they arrived at the Roost, an impromptu 
dressing station was installed in the living room, 
with Betty and Miss Wyndham as first aids. When 
Ruth and Emmy entered, the dressing process had 
begun. Miss Wyndham held a large bottle in one 
hand, while with the other she applied a soothing 
lotion. Betty stood beside her, a roll of gauze 
bandage in her hand, while the others had grouped 
themselves about the trio to watch operations. 

“ Come here, Emmy,” directed Miss Wyndham. 

238 


Righting a Great Wrong 239 

“ Let us see just how much of your pretty hair 
went up in smoke. Are you sure the skin on your 
head was not blistered? Now is the time for all 
good women and true to come to the aid of the 
injured / 7 

“ Pm not injured in the least,” Emmy replied 
in a low tone. She walked over to where Marian 
stood, and laying a hand on the latter’s shoulder, 
bent over and kissed her cheek. 

Marian flushed at the unexpected caress. She 
made a movement as though to return it, but Betty, 
who was engaged in bandaging her hands, play- 
fully ordered: “ Stand still.” 

“ Girls,” began Emmy in a clear resolute voice 
that brought every pair of eyes to bear upon her. 
“ I have something to say to you. I wish I didn’t 
have to say it. After you hear it, I know you will 
all hate me, but I can’t help that. I have done 
Marian a great wrong and now is the time to right 
it. After all she has done for me to-night, I r d be 
the most despicable coward on earth if I kept still. 
I went to Marian yesterday because I was jealous 
of her, and made her believe that Ruth was vexed 
because Marian had come to visit her and because 
she had to bring her here to the house-party. I 
made her think that Betty hadn’t really wanted 


240 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

her, but had invited her for the sake of having 
Euth. I am afraid I led her to believe, too, that 
none of you girls wanted her. I told her she was 
selfish to come here and spoil Buth’s good time, 
and that she ought to have gone home to Spring- 
field instead of accepting Betty’s invitation. She 
thought Euth had been talking to me about her 
and — ” 

“ But I never said any of those things to you, 
Emmy,” interrupted Euth hotly. “ I never told 
you that I was vexed because — ” Euth paused, 
a flood of crimson stained her cheeks. A dreadful 
thought had her in its clutch. Her eyes met Betty’s. 
Betty’s face was flaming. ‘ ‘ Betty,” she said, 
almost piteously, “ did you tell Emmy about that 
miserable letter I wrote you? ” 

Betty shook her head emphatically. “No; I 
didn’t tell Emmy about it. But — ■ ” She seemed 
unable to find speech with which to proceed. Her 
eyes sought Emmy’s in mute, questioning accusa- 
tion. 

“ Yes, Betty, I understand.” Emmy smiled with 
bitter humility. “ I wanted to tell that, too, but 
I tried not to because I didn’t wish to implicate 
Euth in my tangle. But since she herself has men- 
tioned the letter, I may as well say frankly that 


241 


Righting’ a Great Wrong 

I found it under some papers in your desk and 
read it. I showed it to Marian, but as soon as 
she saw what it really was, she handed it back 
to me. She was too honorable to read it. I am 
the only one who has been dishonorable. ’ ’ She 
turned away her head in an agony of shame and 
contrition. 

“ Oh, Emmy, how could you? ” Ruth’s tones 
expressed a sorrowful disapproval that cut Emmy 
to the heart. 

“ I told you you would hate me,” she muttered, 
her eyes filling with fresh tears. “I’m going 
away in the morning. I couldn’t bear to — ,f She 
stumbled to the davenport and dropping down on 
it buried her dark head among its gay cushions. 

Marian pulled away from Betty, who had not 
finished her work of bandaging when Emmy had 
dropped her bombshell of confession into their 
midst. Running to the davenport she knelt beside 
Emmy and wrapped her arms about her. “You 
are the bravest girl I ever knew, Emmy,” she 
cried, “ and I love you.” 

“ Girls,” she turned her head, regarding her 
companions with shining eyes, “ I know very well 
that you couldn’t hate Emmy if you tried. I’m 
sorry she ever said a word about that old letter. 


242 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

I never intended anyone should know. It’s been 
just a silly mistake all around. Let’s forget it, 
and tell Emmy just how much we all love her and 
want her to stay. We can’t afford to break up 
the Equitable Eight. We wouldn’t have a bit of 
fun without our brave eighth member.” 

“It’s all my fault!” exclaimed Ruth Gamier 
huskily. “If I’d never written that horrible let- 
ter to Betty, all this wouldn’t have happened.” 
Ruth’s generosity of spirit had returned to her 
with a rush. 

“It’s my fault,” mourned Betty. “I should 
have tom it up as soon as I read it. I am certain 
that Emmy never meant to read it in the first 
place. How she happened to come across it in 
that desk, I don’t know.” 

“ I never meant to read it,” quavered a muffled 
apology from the sofa cushions. “ I was looking 
for some stationery. It was the day I came to 
the Roost. I hadn’t brought my things, and I 
wanted to write a letter. I was cross with Ruth 
when I found it — ” Her voice trailed off into a 
sob that told its own story. 

“ Something tragic seems to be happening 
here,” remarked Frances Bliss off-handedly. “ I 
wish someone would enlighten us. Having heard 


Righting a Great Wrong 


243 


this much, we yearn to know more. Isn’t that so, 
plain Jane? ” 

“ It’s not fair to keep secrets from your little 
pals,” murmured Jane. “ Here we are still in the 
dark — Annie, Janie, Sarey, Fanny and Miss 
Wyndham.” But Miss Wyndham had mysteri- 
ously vanished at the beginning of Emmy’s re- 
cital. The Equitable Eight needed no assistance 
from her in straightening out their tangles. 

“ Betty, will you do me a favor? ” asked Buth, 
seized with a brilliant thought. ‘ ‘ Will you go up- 
stairs and get that awful letter of mine? And, if 
you have it, will you also bring the second one I 
wrote you? I deserve to be punished for my sins. 
I’m going to read them both to the girls. Then 
they’ll understand. That is, if Marian doesn’t 
care. I won’t, unless she gives her permission. 
But let me say, right here, that I think my cousin 
Marian is the dearest girl in the world, and that 
I have been glad every minute to have her here 
with me. After that, my ridiculous letter oughtn ’t 
to count for much.” 

“ Bring forth the fateful document, stingy 
ones,” commanded Frances, in a deep rumbling 
voice. 

“Yes, do, and let Ruth read it to the girls, 


244 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Betty,” urged Marian with quiet good humor. She 
had seated herself on the davenport by Emmy. 
The French girl had now raised her head in sheer 
wonder at the rapidity with which things were 
happening. 

Now she murmured in a scarcely audible voice, 
“ I put it back in the desk, Betty, where I found 
it.” 

Betty departed on her errand, returning pres- 
ently with the two letters. Then Ruth performed 
her self-imposed act of contrition, reading her own 
hasty words, whose very needlessness had been 
the cause of so much unhappiness. Partial re- 
demption lay in her second letter, written in apol- 
ogy for her first, after she had met Marian. 

“ And the moral is, my children,” commended 
Frances lightly, when Ruth had finished, ‘ ‘ never 
judge a cousin until you’ve seen her.” 

“ Never judge her at all,” retorted Ruth rather 
shakily. “ I think I’ve learned my lesson.” 

“ We’ve all learned lessons enough,” protested 
Jane sturdily. ‘ ‘ Let’s shake hands all around 
like gentlemen and forget the whole business. We 
haven’t so very much more time left to be to- 
gether. Let’s be the most Equitable Eight that 
ever drew breath.” 


Righting a Great Wrong 


245 


“ Plain Jane, although I never expected to say 
it, I must confess that you are really a person of 
good sense,’ ’ beamed Frances. 

Jane haughtily ignored the doubtful compli- 
ment. Marching over to Marian she held out her 
hand. ‘ ‘ I ’m proud to know you, ’ ’ she said admir- 
ingly. Then she gave her hand to Emmy with, 
“ Cheer up, princess; better days ahead! ” 

For the next five minutes a pretty little love 
feast went on among the Equitable Eight. It 
ended with Anne’s sudden reminder, “ We forgot 
all about poor, tiny Wawa. Let’s pay him a call.” 

Reunited heart and soul, eight contented girls 
climbed the stairs to Emmy’s room, where Wawa 
lay wrapped in slumber. The evening had passed 
uneventfully for him. Ellen, the cook, had not 
been called upon to go forth and do battle. The 
beetle-browed woman was still among the miss- 
ing. After whispered comments on the improve- 
ment which a night and a day of good living had 
wrought in the waif, the callers sought their beds, 
leaving Emmy in undisputed dominion over her 
small subject. 

Morning brought fresh reports of last night’s 
conflagration. Mrs. Hildreth drove over to Wan- 
derer’s Roost, anxious to learn what had befallen 


246 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

her guests. Directly after the rush for outdoors 
began, she had been informed that a number of 
trunks were in process of being lowered out of 
the back windows of the inn, by the employes of 
the hotel. She had hurried there to see if hers 
were among them. Providentially, they were. She 
deplored the loss of a considerable amount of 
wearing apparel which had been hung in her ward- 
robe, but the bulk of her possessions had been 
saved. Many of the guests had lost everything. 
The most unfortunate of them were two maiden 
ladies, music teachers, who had been regular 
patrons of the inn for many summers. Cannily 
suspicious of banks in general, they invariably 
carried their hard-earned savings about with them. 
They had deposited their little hoard of money in 
a leather wallet, cached at the bottom of one of 
their trunks. But their trunks had been the prey 
of the hungry flames. They were, therefore, pen- 
niless. They had not even the price of their rail- 
road fare to their home in Buffalo. They, as well 
as others of the inn’s guests, were being cared 
for by the hospitable cottagers until they could 
adjust their affairs. Undoubtedly some sort of 
benefit would be given for them when matters had 
settled down. At present, everything was in con- 


Righting a Great Wrong 


247 


fusion. Of the Idlemere, nothing remained but 
charred ruins. 

“ Why couldn’t we make up a sum of money 
between us to give to them? ” proposed Ruth, 
her sympathies on fire at the distressing news. 

Mrs. Hildreth shook her head. 1 i They wouldn’t 
accept such an offering from even the best-inten- 
tioned strangers,” she demurred. “ They are very 
peculiar old bodies, and extremely proud.” 

“We might ask them to come here,” said Betty. 
“ The question is, where would we put them? The 
Roost is already well filled.” 

c 1 A friend of theirs, who owns a cottage not 
far from where the Idlemere once stood, is look- 
ing out for them,” Mrs. Hildreth hastened to 
state. “Until they decide what to do, I doubt 
if they would leave her. It is thoughtful in you 
to suggest offering them shelter. My maid and I 
have moved down to the Sterlingworth Inn, about 
three miles below the site of the Idlemere. I hope 
you will come to see me there.” 

“We shall be delighted,” responded Miss 
Wyndham. Her charges echoed pleased accept- 
ance of the invitation. 

After Mrs. Hildreth had departed, the girls ac- 
companying her to her limousine, Betty mar- 


248 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

shalled them to the veranda, their favorite roost- 
ing place, for a solemn consultation. 

“Get comfy, children/ ’ she ordered. “I’ve 
something on my mind that I’m crazy to be rid 
of.” 

“Wait until I bring Wawa,” said Marian. 
Wawa had bashfully disappeared from view the 
moment he heard a strange voice in his kingdom. 
Absorbed in hearing Mrs. Hildreth’s account of 
the fire, his guardians had forgotten to mention 
him to their guest. They now lamented the omis- 
sion. Mrs. Hildreth might possibly be able to 
throw some light on the mystery of his identity. 

Marian returned without him. Wawa had re- 
tired to his chamber, or rather Emmy’s room, to 
dismantle the shelves of her bookcase. He was 
busily engaged in constructing a railway train of 
enterprising length, in which the labor of stand- 
ard authors figured prominently. Dickens’ com- 
plete works furnished a towering engine, while 
Shakespeare trailed along unhappily as the 
caboose. As a promoter of travel, he had no mind 
for consultations, but stuck sturdily to his job 
and refused to be parted therefrom. 

“Now, Betty, begin,” ordered Jane. Marian 
had returned with the news that purely local rail- 


Righting a Great Wrong 


249 


way accommodations had been thoughtfully pro- 
vided by the industrious Wawa. 

“ Well, I’ve been thinking that we could help 
those two old ladies by holding a benefit on their 
account. I know a play we could give that every- 
body for miles around would come to see. ’ ’ Betty’s 
eyes gleamed behind her glasses. 

6 1 Name it,” came promptly from Frances. 

“Rip Van Winkle!” Betty beamed satisfac- 
tion at the commotion her announcement had 
created. 

“ But how and where could we give it? ” ques- 
tioned Sarah Manning. ‘ ‘ And who would be Rip 
Van Winkle? ” 

“I’m not quite sure just where we might give it. 
But I know who would make a fine Rip Van 
Winkle. Can’t you guess? ” Betty laughed mis- 
chievously. 

“ Oh, I know! ” Quick-witted Frances came to 
the front with the answer. “ You mean that old 
man who claims to be the famous Rip’s descend- 
ant. ’ ’ 

“ Exactly. I’m sure he’d be willing to do it. 
It’s quite within his province.” 

“ He couldn’t remember his lines,” jeered Jane. 
“ A nice Rip Van Winkle he’d make.” 


250 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ Perhaps he could/ ’ came from Euth hqpe- 
fully. c ‘ You see he ’d love his part, and that might 
make a great difference.” 

“ But we haven’t the play itself,” protested 
Anne. “ I imagine we’d have a hard time getting 
it, even if we wrote to a publisher of plays.” 

‘‘I’ve thought of that, too, and here is where 
Frances and Marian can make themselves useful. 
They can take Irving’s story and write the play 
from it. It will be much more interesting and a 
stunt. People will like it and it will add origi- 
nality to the production.” 

“ I don’t know about that.” Frances looked 
dubious. “ I may be a poet, although some per- 
sons will have it that I am not, but I am no play- 
wright. ’ ’ 

“ Neither ami” Marian shook her head. 

“ Oh, go ahead and try it,” counseled Jane 
impatiently. “ If you don’t, I will. That threat 
ought to persuade you.” 

“ It does,” chuckled Frances. “ Marian, it be- 
comes our stern duty to save an innocent public 
from such a catastrophe.” 

“ I thought as much,” retorted Jane. “ It was 
the only way; so I can afford to overlook your 
slurs.” 


251 


Righting a Great Wrong 

“ Now for the rest of my plan,” Betty contin- 
ued. “ I am going to interest Mrs. Hildreth in 
onr scheme. She knows all the cottagers who 
live near Idlemere. I’ll ask her to get them to- 
gether, those she thinks wonld be a help, and put 
the idea before them. We shall have to have a 
large cast. There are the villagers in the first 
act, the men of the mountains in the second, and 
the villagers again in the third. Just a little way 
from where the inn stood is a meadow that the 
children from the cottages and the Idlemere have 
always used for a playground. The grass is short 
there, and at one end of it is a little green hill 
with just enough bushes growing there to make it 
exactly right for the mountain scene. If we could 
use the meadow for a theater and give an open- 
air performance it would be splendid. Then, too, 
there would be room for so many more people 
to see it, and we’d make a lot of money. I can’t 
really plan much until I talk to Mrs. Hildreth and 
meet the folks at the cottages. If they are pleased 
with the idea, we can call on Mr. Daniel Bur- 
roughs, alias Rip Van Winkle, and interview him. 
If he yearns to become an actor, so much the bet- 
ter for us. He will be a great drawing card. ’ ’ 

Betty’s admirable scheme met with hearty sup- 


252 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

port. Emmy telephoned for her car in a hurry 
and a delegation composed of herself, Miss 
Wyndham, Betty and Ruth, drove over to the 
Sterlingworth that same afternoon to put the 
great plan before Mrs. Hildreth. The four other 
girls remained at home by choice, to serve as a 
defense for Wawa, in case he required it. Miss 
Wyndham had decreed that after they made their 
call at the Sterlingworth they should drive to 
Haines Falls and inform the authorities there con- 
cerning Wawa Taywee. It looked as though the 
mysterious woman had no intention of coming to 
the Roost to claim him. She was either indiffer- 
ent to his welfare or else afraid, for reasons best 
known to herself, to come boldly forward. The 
girls believed the latter to be the case. They were 
convinced that the child belonged to parents quite 
different from the virago who had recently been 
his sole guardian. 

Their visit to Mrs. Hildreth provoked instan- 
taneous results. She was delighted with the plan, 
promised to arrange for a meeting at one of the 
cottages, and to telephone them when the time for 
it had been agreed upon. 

Their visit to the constable at Haines Falls was 
not so satisfactory. Failing to find him at home, 


Righting a Great Wrong 


253 


they were obliged to drive all over town on a will- 
’o-the-wisp hunt for him. He was finally run to 
earth, lounging on the veranda of one of the small 
hotels, his feet on the railing, hat tipped over his 
eyes, deep in what looked perilously like an after- 
noon siesta. He did not exhibit frantic joy at 
being disturbed from his rest, and was not avidly 
concerned in their tale. Quite content to allow 
Wawa to remain where he was, he agreed placidly 
that the matter ought to be taken up. He would 
make inquiries. He would also get on the trail of 
the foreign woman. He had not heard that a child 
had been stolen in that part of the country. Very 
likely the woman was the boy’s mother. Why she 
did not come for the boy, he could not say. He 
might have added truthfully that he did not care. 
The matter would be cleared up, directly, was his 
pompous assurance. 

Deeply disgusted, yet with one grain of comfort 
to cheer them, the party left this drowsy minion 
of the law to continue his nap. At least, he had 
not proposed taking Wawa away from them. 

Several days came and went, each bringing its 
own business. Mrs. Hildreth’s meeting was well 
attended and went off with a snap. It was held 
in the living room of one of the cottages, which 


254 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

belonged to an intimate friend of Mrs. Hildreth. 
Brought into contact with the social life that went 
on at the cottages, the Equitable Eight soon grew 
in popularity and were invited to participate in 
numerous informal merry-makings. Frances and 
Marian alone shunned the haunts of pleasure. 
They were too deeply immersed in play-writing to 
be lured away from their labor. Thanks to their 
diligence, a capital adaptation of the story was 
soon well under way. 

As soon as the play was finished, the girls copied 
the various parts and Mrs. Hildreth attended to 
having them typed. Betty was chosen to play 
Dame Van Winkle. Arthur Harris, one of the 
cottagers, was cast for the Bip Van Winkle of the 
early days, before he fell asleep on the mountain 
top. Even Wawa, dressed as a little girl, was 
to appear as Meenie Van Winkle, Rip’s daughter. 
Emmy was selected to play Meenie, grown-up, in 
the third act, while Sarah, Jane, Anne and Ruth 
were quite contented to be villagers, along with a 
number of young men and women from the cot- 
tages. Marian and Frances declined to become 
actors. They preferred to rest on their laurels. 

Betty was determined that old Daniel Bur- 
roughs should have the glory of playing Rip Van 


255 


Righting a Great Wrong 

Winkle as he appeared after awakening from his 
long sleep. Despite the laughing discouragement 
she met with on all sides, she was firm in her 
belief that the old man could he drilled into the 
part. “ First find your hare,” Mrs. Hildreth had 
smilingly advised her, for the aged Daniel's 
rambles took him over long stretches of country. 
Nevertheless, Betty bullied the girls into taking 
the five-mile hike to his hut three times before 
they found him at home. Having been warned 
that he would undoubtedly refuse to lend his pic- 
turesque presence to the play, she was joyfully 
amazed when he consented readily to her request, 
behaving like a pleased child. He accepted his 
part quite eagerly, promising to study it and ap- 
pear for rehearsal at the time she set. 

He kept his word and covered himself with glory 
at the first and second rehearsals, but at the third 
and fourth he was conspicuous by reason of his 
absence. About the time when they had given up 
all hope of him, and the play was fast nearing 
the evening of the dress rehearsal, he bobbed up 
serenely, letter perfect in his lines. Forgetful as 
he averred himself to be, the words which Frances 
and Marian had put into the mouth of the immor- 
tal Rip stuck in his mind. He reveled in the fact 


256 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

that, at last, he was in a way to do credit to his 
shiftless, good-natured ancestor, and even the 
most skeptical voices were stilled before the old 
man’s unconsciously artistic interpretation of the 
role. 

Betty had constituted herself as stage man- 
ager by reason of her vast, secretly-acquired 
knowledge of things theatrical. She it was who 
patiently put the eccentric Daniel through his 
paces. The only things he could not remember 
were his cues, and on various occasions he wan- 
dered calmly into the first and second acts, and in 
consequence nearly convulsed the cast. 

“ You’d better chain him down or tie him to a 
tree, Betty, on the great day,” advised Frances. 
“ He wants to be featured all the time.” It was 
the afternoon of the dress rehearsal and old Rip 
Van Winkle had just succeeded in ambling into 
the second act and following calmly along behind 
the mysterious men of the mountains as they 
solemnly conducted young Rip Van Winkle up the 
hill. 

1 6 I’ll watch him like a hawk on Thursday,” de- 
clared Betty grimly. Then she scampered up the 
hill. 

After the rehearsal that afternoon, the Equit- 


Righting a Great Wrong 


257 


able Eight gathered in the living room for a little 
chat before dinner. With the exception of Daniel 
Burroughs ’ eccentric wanderings in and out of the 
play, the rehearsal had progressed with creditable 
smoothness to the very end. If only he could be 
induced to stay where he was put, the production 
would undoubtedly score a huge success. 

4 ‘My, but you’ve worked hard, Betty !” ex- 
claimed Buth. 

‘ ‘ I only hope everything will turn out beauti- 
fully, ’ ’ sighed Betty. “Being stage manager is 
no fun, especially when the star performer won’t 
behave. ’ ’ 

“ Suppose he should take it into his head to 
wander off on one of his jaunts and forget all 
about the play?” was Jane’s dampening com- 
ment. 

“ It wouldn’t surprise me very much,” laughed 
Anne. 

“Don’t mention it.” Betty raised her hands 
in a gesture of comic despair. “ That’s exactly 
what I’ve been afraid of ever since we began re- 
hearsals. He gave me his solemn word of honor, 
as a loyal Van Winkle, that he’d be on hand early 
Thursday afternoon. If he fails to appear, the 
play will be ruined. Of course Mr. Harris knows 


258 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Rip’s lines of the third act. He has a good make- 
up ready, too, in case he has to go on. But he 
can’t begin to be as realistic as Mr. Burroughs. 
He is wonderful. And, besides, it will completely 
spoil that place in the third act where Mr. Harris 
plays the son. Don’t you remember? When old 
Rip Van Winkle first comes back he sees his son 
leaning against a tree with his gun. He is bewil- 
dered because he thinks he is looking at himself. 
If Daniel B isn’t on hand to play his part, that 
artistic bit of business will have to be cut out.” 

“ I have an idea he’ll keep his word,” remarked 
Emmy. “ He’s as pleased as can be with himself. 
He confided to me to-night in his queer way that 
he considered being in the play the greatest event 
of his life.” 

“ I hope he’ll keep right on thinking so,” Betty 
declared fervently. “ Isn’t Wawa cunning, dressed 
as a little girl? He isn’t a bit afraid, either. He 
acts as though he liked being an actor. He took 
to the stage like a duck to the water. I only wish 
we knevr who his parents were. If no one claims 
him while we are here, I shall take him home with 
me. I wrote mother about him, you know, and she 
answered, saying by all means to keep him, if 
no one ever claims him.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


A DRAMA NOT DOWN ON THE BILLS 

The Thursday set for the open-air production 
of Rip Van Winkle found everyone concerned in 
it keeping an anxious watch on the skies for even 
the faintest signs of foul weather. But the watch 
was needless. The sun had never shone more bril- 
liantly and the sky was a solid arch of blue. A 
pleasant activity, due to the knowledge of deeds to 
be performed, was abroad at the Roost. At the 
beginning of rehearsals for the play, Emmy had 
transferred her car from the Silver Birch Inn 
garage to the place which Betty had first sug- 
gested. Situated not far from the direct road to 
the meadow where the play was to be given, it was 
infinitely more convenient for the girls at the 
Roost. 

Early on the morning of the great day, the 
Equitable Eight, Miss Wyndham and Wawa, took 
the short road through the Pass to the garage in 
gay spirits. Even solemn Wawa was in high glee, 
refusing sturdily to be carried. He gamboled 
along beside Emmy, whom he adored, and kept 

259 


260 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

everyone laughing at his funny antics. No mem- 
ber of the large cast appeared to enjoy acting as 
much as he did. The assurance with which he 
trod the grassy stage and in his baby voice spoke 
the few lines which Betty had had no trouble in 
teaching him, created decided wonder among his 
fellow actors. “ He acts as though he’d been on 
the stage all his little life,” Emmy had more than 
once remarked admiringly to Betty. 

The house-party ate a hasty luncheon at twelve 
o’clock at one of the larger cottages which had 
been thrown open to the Misses Tolliver, who had 
managed the Idlemere, for the serving of meals to 
such of their guests as had remained in that vicin- 
ity after the fire. The Equitable Eight were by no 
means the only ones who had been busy working 
for the success of the play. The energetic cot- 
tagers had advertised it far and wide, using every 
means in their power to create an interest. Two 
young artists had obligingly painted a mammoth 
canvas backdrop, to hang between two removable 
poles, thus shutting out the hill during the first 
and last acts. So far as the promoters of the 
affair knew, nothing had been left undone. It 
now remained only for the public to pass judg- 
ment on their efforts. 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 


261 


The performance was to be given at half past 
two o ’clock in the afternoon, as it had been voted 
impossible to hold it in the evening, due to the 
difficulty which confronted the producers of prop- 
erly lighting the natural stage. Long before two 
o’clock the audience began flocking to the scene. 
All tickets of admission had been sold before- 
hand at the neighboring inns. Camp chairs had 
been borrowed from several of them, the pro- 
prietors being affably willing to help a good cause 
along. The space designed to hold the audience 
had been roped in and ticket takers established at 
each side of the enclosure. It had been arranged 
that the cast should dress and make up at two of 
the nearest cottages, the feminine contingent at 
one, the men at the other. The Equitable Eight, 
however, had a cottage all to themselves. 

Once ready, those detailed to appear in the first 
act took refuge behind the big drop, which was 
hung sufficiently far from the hill to permit pas- 
sage back and forth. The players could thus use 
it to make their entrances and exits in the first and 
third acts. The drop was to be removed at the 
beginning of the second act, leaving the hill in 
plain view. Kip Van Winkle was to open the act 
by strolling toward the hill, gun in hand, accom- 


262 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

panied by his faithful dog, a sagacious collie be- 
longing to the young man who played the part. 
Once young Rip Van Winkle lay lazily stretched 
at ease on top of the elevation, it was an easy 
matter for the men of the mountain to make their 
entrance on the scene from the right and climb 
the hill to hold their weird revel. 

By half past two o’clock the chairs had been 
filled and a goodly portion of the audience, not 
fortunate enough to obtain seats, had packed itself 
in every available inch of space. But while they 
kept up the constant low buzz of conversation 
which invariably goes with a spectacle of the sort 
they had gathered to witness, tragedy hung immi- 
nent over the heads of the cast. Old Rip Van 
Winkle, or rather, the aged and seemingly inde- 
pendable Daniel, had not put in an appearance. 
After a hasty consultation among them, it was de- 
cided that, after a five-minute wait, during which 
it was hoped he would materialize, the play must 
go forward without him. 

After they had waited in vain ten minutes in- 
stead of five, the play began in front of the Van 
Winkle cottage, which had been realistically 
painted on the back drop. In the lower center of 
it a door had been cut. The act opened with a 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 263 

dance of the young folks on the village green, the 
music furnished by two rustic fiddlers. During 
this dance Eip Van Winkle made his first entrance, 
and, throwing down his gun, proceeded to caper 
about with his young companions. The dance had 
been written in by Frances and Marian solely for 
the sake of giving Jane a chance to do some fancy 
steps. She led the others with a will, and her 
clever dancing won instant applause from the 
audience. Betty, as Dame Van Winkle, made her 
first entrance through the door of the drop and 
proceeded to berate her shiftless husband. She 
played the scene splendidly, her work evoking 
much approbation. She was a trifle puzzled, how- 
ever, when a sudden roar of laughter went up 
from the spectators at one of her speeches which 
hardly called for mirth. When she made her exit, 
wringing her hands over the reprehensible con- 
duct of her worthless spouse, she understood the 
cause. While she ranted, Daniel had arrived at 
the edge of the enclosure and ambled his way 
toward the back drop in full sight of the hilarious 
audience. He had not waited twenty years to 
grow old, but had generously given the onlookers 
a chance to gaze on him beforehand. 

Divided between laughter and tears, Betty 


264 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

charged Emmy to keep strict guard over him while 
she finished the act. The old man was especially 
devoted to the French girl, whose radiant beauty 
appeared to fascinate him into a lamb-like obe- 
dience. Except for this one small incident, which 
was a help rather than a detriment, the play pro- 
ceeded smoothly enough. 

But whatever Daniel’s failings had been at re- 
hearsals, they were forgotten in the remarkably 
fine work he did in the third act. His was an 
impersonation of Rip Yan Winkle that the de- 
parted Joseph Jefferson himself might have 
envied. To see and hear him, one could well be- 
lieve that the fictional character had actually lived 
and come down through time to take part in the 
production. Not once did his treacherous mem- 
ory fail him, and when he caught his daughter in 
his arms, crying out piteously, ‘ 1 1 am your father ! 
Young Rip Van Winkle once — old Rip Van 
Winkle now. Does nobody know poor Rip Van 
Winkle? ” a thrill of pure emotion, called to the 
surface by his art, swept those who had lately 
laughed. 

When the play had ended in a riot of applause, 
and the old man had repeatedly and delightedly 
bowed his thanks, the cries of “ Speech ! Speech ! ” 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 265 

rent the air. Then came the greatest feature of 
the occasion, great by reason of being entirely 
impromptu. Daniel Burroughs responded to the 
demand, and when his intention was seen the 
clamor subsided into instant silence. 

“ Friends/ ’ he said in his clear, quavering old 
voice, “ I thank you. It doesn’t seem so strange 
to me that you are pleased. The part I have 
played comes very natural to me. You see, if I 
played Bip Van Winkle well, it is because I am 
Bip Van Winkle.” 

The old man paused, and a kind of momentary, 
awestruck quiver swept across the audience — 
even that majority which was familiar with Daniel 
Burroughs’ story and his delusion. Standing 
there before them he did not at all resemble an 
actor. He appeared more like Irving’s quaint old 
character materialized in the actual flesh. That, 
combined with his solemn, unanticipated state- 
ment, gave every person there a thrill of delight- 
ful half -belief. 

“ Not,” he continued, “ that I claim to be the 
original Bip whom the story was about. But his 
blood is in my veins, and I guess there isn’t any- 
body alive that has really as good a right as I 
have to play this part.” He rambled on at some 


266 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

length concerning the Van Winkles in general, 
while his hearers listened with charmed attention, 
and at the end of it they raised more tumult than 
ever. It is not to be doubted that when they 
reluctantly dispersed it was with the certainty that 
so far as amusement went, they had indeed re- 
ceived their money’s worth. 

But another drama, staged strictly behind the 
scenes, was rapidly on the way to being played. 
Betty and Emmy were making their way to the 
cottage to remove their make-up when a smartly 
dressed woman, young and of considerable beauty, 
accosted them. She was accompanied by a tall, 
fair-haired man, who in spite of his unobtrusive 
bearing, carried with him a distinctly professional 
air. 

“That child,” began the woman excitedly, 
“ where did you find him? ” She caught Betty’s 
arm in a frantic clutch. 

“ Why, what — ” began Betty. 

“The child that played little Meenie Van 
Winkle,” cut in the woman sharply. 

“ Oh, that was a little boy we found — ” 

Betty’s information was cut off by a low cry 
from the questioner that sounded like a sob. “ I 
knew it! I knew it was our little Wawa! Oh, 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 267 

Herbert, we have found him at last ! ’ ’ She turned 
to her companion and clung to his arm, half laugh- 
ing, half crying. Betty eyed them in bewilder- 
ment. Had the unbelievable actually come to 
pass? 

“ There, there, dear! ” soothed the man, pat- 
ting the woman’s shoulder. “ Don’t give way 
like this.” His face was very pale, but in his 
blue eyes burned a strange light. “Lead us to 
this boy at once. He is our son.” He addressed 
Betty in an authoritative tone that held repressed 
anxiety as well. “You may tell us later how he 
came here. J ust now nothing matters except that 
we have found him.” 

Completely taken off her feet by the astounding 
revelation, Betty continued to stare from one to 
the other of this agitated pair. Emmy, too, stood 
dumfounded. Yet the next instant she found her- 
self thinking that she was not so very much aston- 
ished, after all. She had never believed Wawa to 
be the child of the dark-browed foreign woman. 
In a flash, she recalled that he had often told her 
in his baby way that she looked like his mother. 
A quick scrutiny of the stranger before her showed 
her that so far as height, coloring and general 
appearance counted, a child might easily trace a 


268 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

resemblance between them. 1 1 I believe you are 
Wawa’s mother,” she said with great conviction. 

‘ 4 Of course I am his mother ! ’ 9 The woman 
flashed offended eyes at her. 6 * Take me to him, 
Isay!” 

Dazed for the moment, Betty quickly recovered 
her poise. “ Certainly we will take you to him,” 
she said rather coolly. She did not relish being 
ordered about by two complete strangers. Then 
the tardy realization of the strain they were both 
enduring caused her to add more gently, “ Come 
this way, please. He is over in that cottage. My 
aunt is looking after him. We never leave him 
alone because of that dreadful woman who — ’ 7 
‘ ‘ A tall, black-haired woman, with a fierce dark 
face and overhanging eyebrows? ” 

“ Yes; that is the description which — ” 

“ Dolores,” groaned the woman. “ That is the 
last touch needed. I was always sure she stole 
him, though we couldn’t prove it.” 

They were close to the cottage by this time, 
Betty and Emmy in the lead, the man and woman 
at their heels. As they reached the door, Miss 
Wyndham appeared. “ Here you are,” she com- 
menced, then became abruptly silent at the sight 
of strangers. 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 269 

“ My aunt, Miss Wyndham,” introduced Betty. 
“ Pardon me; this is Miss Cerrito, and I am Eliz- 
abeth Wyndham.” It was hardly the time for 
introductions, with these strangers devoured with 
suspense and longing. 

The couple made instant acknowledgment. 

“ I am Herbert Terry.’ ’ The man’s courtesy 
did not fail him, even at this trying moment. 
“ This is Mrs. Terry.” 

‘ ‘ They are Wawa’s father and mother,” was 
Betty’s hasty explanation. “ Where is he?” 
Betty had double cause to be amazed. The name 
Herbert Terry was one with which she had long 
been familiar. 

* * Inside the cottage with Frances and Marian. 
He took a nap after playing his part, but he is 
awake now.” Miss Wyndham’s usually placid 
face registered her astonishment. She managed to 
say, “Come in,” but that was all. Amazement 
robbed her of further speech. 

A joyous laugh, rising to a crescendo of baby 
glee, proclaimed the fact that Wawa was indeed 
awake and stirring. At the sound, the strange 
woman lost all semblance of dignity. She darted 
past Miss Wyndham, her husband close behind 
her. 


270 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

His eyes on Marian, who was giving a funny lit- 
tle Punch and Judy show with the aid of her hand- 
kerchief and her fingers, the hoy did not look up. 
The ringing cry of “Wawa! Mother’s hoy!” 
broke up the show in a twinkling. Wawa slid from 
the oak seat beside Marian and hurled himself 
straight into a pair of outstretched arms with an 
abandon that told its own story. ‘ ‘ My mamma ! ’ ’ 
he shouted, then broke into an unintelligible 
stream of baby talk which was smothered on the 
stranger’s breast. 

His triumphant shout brought Anne, Sarah and 
Ruth, who were in the next room. Neither Miss 
Wyndham nor the Equitable Eight ever forgot the 
sight and sound of that ecstatic moment of re- 
union. Feeling that they were intruding upon 
something too sacred for spectators, they retired 
to the adjoining room, leaving the strangely re- 
united trio alone with their tears and their hap- 
piness. 

Once by themselves, the nine women stared at 
one another with misty eyes. It was Jane who 
first found her voice. 

“ I never heard of such a thing in my life be- 
fore,” she declared in a husky whisper. “ Tell 
us about it, Betty, as quickly as you know how. ’ ’ 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 271 

1 4 Sh-h-h ! ’ 9 warned Betty. * 6 She — Mrs. Terry 
is calling.” She hurried from the room in answer 
to the faint, “ Will someone please come here.” 

Betty entered the room of reunion to be clasped 
in a pair of soft, thankful arms. Then she felt a 
kiss upon her cheek. Wawa’s mother had begun 
to realize dimly that she and her husband owed 
someone a tremendous debt of gratitude. 

“My dear,” began Mrs. Terry, “I won’t ask 
you to forgive me for my abrupt behavior to you. 
I know you understand. But all that Mr. Terry 
and I have endured since our son was stolen from 
us five weeks ago has nearly driven us both insane. 
Won’t you call your friends into the room, please? 
We should like them all to hear our story. But, 
first of all, won’t you tell us everything? ” 

“I shall be very glad to know Wawa’s story 
and to tell you mine. My friends will be equally 
delighted,” responded Betty with the charming 
courtesy that made her an ideal hostess to the 
seven girls she had gathered under her roof. She 
stepped to the door and called, “Auntie, girls, 
will you come, please? ” 

In quick obedience to her summons the seven 
girls and Miss Wyndham appeared. Those who 
had yet to be introduced to the Terrys were duly 


272 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

presented. Wawa beamed affectionately upon 
them, but held fast to his father’s and mother’s 
hands. 

Betty quickly told the story that the newcomers 
were so eager to hear. 

“ It is marvelous, wonderful ! ” was Mr. Terry’s 
opinion, when she had finished. ‘ 1 Here we have 
been mourning our boy as lost to us forever, feel- 
ing that he was perhaps suffering untold tor- 
ments, when most of the time he has been safe and 
happy. How can we ever hope to repay you for 
your goodness to him? ” 

“ We have loved to have him with us,” smiled 
Miss Wyndham, glancing tenderly at Wawa. “ He 
has been the light of our house. Betty had deter- 
mined to adopt him as a foster brother if no one 
came to claim him. But we are very anxious to 
know how he came to be stolen. I suppose that 
terrible woman was the guilty party. ’ ’ 

“ Yes,” answered Mrs. Terry sadly. “ It is she 
who has been responsible for all our misery. She 
is a Spanish woman, Dolores Delgado, and she 
was his first nurse. Wawa will be four years old 
in December. We trusted her implicitly until last 
year. Then we found that she was not only dis- 
honest, but that she was beginning to be very 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 273 

harsh with our boy. We could have overlooked 
her pilfering, it was nothing more than that, but 
we could not allow her to ill-treat our child. About 
six months ago we discharged her. Several times 
after that she came to the house to visit the serv- 
ants, and made threats to them that she would 
be revenged upon us for dismissing her. My hus- 
band gave orders that she was not to be admitted 
again into the house. After that we neither heard 
nor saw anything further of her and concluded she 
had gone away. I must explain to you that Mr. 
Terry and I are both members of the theatrical 
profession.” 

* ‘ I knew it ! 9 9 exclaimed Betty rapturously. She 
beamed at Mr. Terry, with, “ You are that great 
actor, Herbert Terry, of whom we have all read 
and heard so much.” 

“lam indeed Herbert Terry,” smiled Wawa’s 
father, ‘ 4 but I cannot vouch for the truth of hear- 
say and press agents.” 

The household of Wanderer’s Boost, Miss 
Wyndham included, were regarding the actor with 
positive awe. Here was greatness at their very 
threshold. 

“ 1 have absolute faith in hearsay when it re- 
lates to you,” retorted Betty prettily. Then to 


274 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

Mrs. Terry, who was looking her approbation of 
stately Betty: “Forgive me for breaking into 
your story. We are so anxious to hear the rest 
of it.” 

Mrs. Terry smiled and continued: “We were 
playing in New York City in ‘ The Bond Eternal.’ 
It had a run of over a year there.” She modestly 
withheld the information that the play owed its 
long life to her husband’s masterly interpreta- 
tion of the leading character. i 1 We were living in 
our own home near Central Park West, and on 
the day he disappeared, we had left Wawa there 
with his nurse, while we were at the theatre. There 
was a matinee that afternoon, and as the day had 
been frightfully hot and we were exhausted, we 
ordered our dinner sent in to Mr. Terry’s dress- 
ing room. We did not leave the theatre until after 
the evening performance. Then we had our cus- 
tomary late supper at a near-by grillroom and did 
not arrive home until after midnight. I hurried 
to the nursery, only to find both my baby and his 
nurse missing. Naturally I was alarmed and ran 
to my husband with the news. We awakened the 
servants, who could tell us nothing. They had 
supposed that Wawa had been put to bed at the 
usual hour. They had not seen him since luncheon, 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 


275 


but as lie always ate bis supper in tbe nursery 
they bad not missed bim. Tbe supper bad been 
prepared and carried to tbe nursery by tbe nurse. 
While we were trying to decide on some plan of 
action, tbe nurse put in an appearance, and alone. 
Sbe behaved like a crazy person and at first we 
could understand nothing sbe said, except that 
Wawa was gone. 

‘ 4 Sbe became more calm after a time, and con- 
fessed that contrary to our orders sbe bad left bim 
in tbe nursery, to go out and do some shopping. 
Sbe bad been away not more than two hours. 
When sbe bad returned it wa,s to find bim miss- 
ing. Believing bim to be not far away, sbe bad 
started put in search of bim. Not daring to tell 
anyone, sbe bad ordered bis supper as usual to 
allay any suspicion tbe servants might form. 
Afterward sbe bad gone out to continue her search. 
It bad lasted all evening and bad proved fruit- 
less. .Completely disheartened, sbe bad finally 
determined to come back and give tbe alarm. 

‘ ‘We were so distracted with fear that we 
hardly stopped long enough to censure her for 
her breach of trust. Our one thought was to find 
Wawa. Mr. Terry notified tbe police, and next 
day tbe papers were full of it. We thought be 


276 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

might have been abducted for the sake of a ran- 
som. We offered a large reward, but nothing 
came of it, except that we were called upon at all 
hours to go to police headquarters and identify 
numerous children supposed to be our son. It 
is strange that you did not read of his disappear- 
ance in the newspapers. ’ * 

“ I am ashamed to confess that since we have 
been up here we have scarcely seen a newspaper,’ ’ 
apologized Miss Wyndham. “My girls were so 
occupied with their own affairs and found so much 
to busy them in the neighborhood of the Eoost 
that they paid little attention to outside matters. 
We were away on a camping trip, too, for a week. 
At that time we did not even know of Wawa’s 
existence. It was directly after we came home 
that Marian found him. were not at all sure 
that the woman who ran away and left him was 
not his mother. We notified the constable at 
Haines Falls, but judging from his appearance, 
he is far from being a sleuth. He promised to 
look into the matter, but we have heard nothing 
from him since our call on him. Then came the 
fire at the Idlemere, and that, together with the 
play, took our minds off the subject.” 

* ‘ It has all been a case of baffling cireum- 


A Drama Not Down on the Bills 


277 


stances/ ’ sighed the actor. “ We didn’t hit upon 
Dolores as an object of suspicion until a week 
after our boy disappeared. Then we couldn’t be 
sure, for we could find no one who had seen her 
come to the house or leave it with the boy. We 
mistrusted she had a key to the front door. She 
could never have come in at the back entrance 
without being seen. By the time we had furnished 
the authorities with an accurate description of 
her, she had vanished as completely as though the 
earth had opened and swallowed her. 

“ We went to a boarding house where she had 
formerly lived, but the proprietor said that she 
had been gone from there for over two months. 
About a week ago one of our servants happened 
to recall that Dolores had once mentioned to her 
that she had friends living in the Catskills. We 
finished our run of the ‘ Bond Eternal ’ last Sat- 
urday. So we decided to come up here at once 
and go over every foot of this region, if neces- 
sary, in the hope of finding someone who knew 
her. On Monday last, we went to Catskill. It is 
a town only a few miles from here. We spent two 
days there, but could learn nothing. We came up 
here on Wednesday evening and took rooms at 
the Sterlingworth Inn. From the proprietor we 


278 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

heard of your play, and were interested in seeing 
it. My wife was in very low spirits, and I sug- 
gested that among the crowd we might stumble 
upon a clue. But we found more than a clue.” 

It was half -past four when the play ended, but 
it was half -past six before the explanation party 
was over. Then it occurred to them all, at about 
the same time, that they were hungry. The 
Terrys were insistent in their pleading that the 
new friends, who had so generously cared for 
Wawa, should dine with them at the Sterling- 
worth. But the Equitable Eight were dying to 
get back to the Roost to talk themselves hoarse 
over the remarkable events of the afternoon. So 
they declined the invitation as gracefully as they 
could. They were also of the opinion that the 
Terrys might inwardly prefer absolute privacy on 
this momentous evening that followed the resto- 
ration to them of their son. They promised, how- 
ever, to take luncheon with them the next day, 
and saw them finally depart, taking Wawa with 
them. 


CHAPTER XXII 

GOOD-BYE TO WANDERER’S ROOST 

“We must go, go, go away from here, 

On the other side the world we ’re overdue ! ’ ’ 
sang Ruth Gamier softly. Then she was sud- 
denly silent, for there was a decided lump in her 
throat and she could not trust her voice to further 
song. To-night was the last of their happy house- 
party. The morrow would find the Equitable 
Eight scattering, to seek their various homes. 

One short week, golden with sunshine and glo- 
rious by reason of the perfect comradeship that 
was theirs, had slipped away since the memo- 
rable afternoon of the play. That brief week had 
fairly bustled with pleasant happenings. They 
had spent much of it with the Terrys, who had 
entertained them frequently at the Sterlingworth 
and had been as hospitably entertained in return. 

On each occasion Wawa had calmly constituted 
himself the guest of honor. He was highly diverted 
at being the center of attraction, and took advan- 
tage of his popularity to an extent that bade fair 
to make him a most despotic ruler of hearts. There 

279 


280 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

had been a great deal of merry-making all around, 
but beneath it all lurked a little undercurrent of 
sadness which the thought of parting always 
brings. 

One extremely ludicrous thing had happened 
which in itself was calculated to lighten the shadow 
of the rapidly approaching hour of good-bye. The 
day after Wawa’s miraculous restoration to his 
own, the stolid constable had put in a dilatory 
appearance at the Roost, fairly exuding pompous 
importance. He had found the mysterious, beetle- 
browed woman. She had been discovered at 
Haines Falls, disguised as an Italian. He had 
“ got her ” as she walked about the streets, ped- 
dling small souvenirs of the Catskills. Accord- 
ing to this astute guardian of the law, she had 
*_“made a great to-do and shot off a lingo of for- 
eign gibberish . 77 This proved that she was the 
woman he had been looking for. He had * 6 picked 
out of her 7 7 that she was the mother of a boy, 
but shp had “ cried like a good one 77 and lied 
that “her baba 77 was dead. She wouldn’t tell 
where she lived and that showed she was guilty. 
“You folks had better hike to the Falls on the 
jump and take a look at her , 77 was his inelegant 
counsel. 


Good-Bye to Wanderer’s Roost 281 

He did not seem especially abashed at the news 
that Wawa’s parents had come to claim him. In- 
stead, he raised suspicions eyebrows and inquired 
their address. ‘ ‘ Mebbe it’s some kind of an abduc- 
tion game, and them people at the hotel is in it,” 
was his bald assertion. The assurances of the 
house-party that the Terrys were above reproach, 
he received doubtfully. He would look into that 
later, he declared, after the case of the woman 
had been disposed of. He believed in “ doin’ one 
thing at a time.” 

He left them in a greater hurry than he had 
come, after he had admonished them to meet him 
at his house in three hours. He had locked the 
woman up there in a back room. When he departed 
it was not to Haines Falls but to the Sterlingworth 
Inn that he hastened. Very craftily, however, he 
refrained from telling his business to the group 
of women he had left at the Roost. Thirsting for 
glory, he was now positive that he was “ onto 
something big.” His interview with the Terrys 
completely took the wind out of his sails. But it 
had one virtue. The actor and his wife agreed to 
go with him at once to the Falls and identify the 
woman. 

When, three hours afterward, an excited com- 


282 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

pany of ten women and one man were ushered 
into the fateful back room by the triumphant 
sleuth to view the miscreant, they found a much 
persecuted and justly enraged daughter of Italy, 
engaged in trying to flood her prison with angry 
tears. She abused them all in an unceasing flow of 
Italian that would have evoked laughter had not 
the sympathies of her audience been aroused to an 
indignation, vastly more quiet, but in keeping 
with her own. Familiar with Italian, Emmy took 
charge of the situation and in liquid accents 
quickly calmed the maltreated one into a more 
beatific state of mind. In the end, innocence 
triumphantly waddled forth from durance vile, 
clutching a roll of bills which it would have taken 
many days of peddling to earn, while the crest- 
fallen constable sought comfort in the trite excuse, 
“ that anybody’s likely to make mistakes.” 

And now, with their thoughts turning somewhat 
reluctantly toward home, a lingering regret in 
their hearts that they must so soon be separated, 
the Equitable Eight had gathered for the last 
time on the veranda of Wanderer’s Roost for a 
farewell sing. The echoes of a favorite Camp Fire 
song had died away and a pleasant lull had set- 
tled down upon them when Ruth began intoning 


Good-Bye to Wanderer’s Roost 283 

half-unconsciously the very song that had been 
on her lips when her mother called her to the 
house to give her Betty’s letter of invitation. 

“ What’s that you’re singing about c go, go, go 
away from here’?” demanded Jane. “You 
needn’t have set it to music. We are all too well 
aware of it for comfort.” 

Ruth smiled a trifle sadly. “ I was just think- 
ing of how glad I was the day Betty’s letter came, 
inviting me up here,” she said. 

“ What has that to do with your 1 go, go away ’ 
song? ” pursued Jane. 

6 6 Oh, I was singing it when Mumsie called me 
to the house to get Betty’s letter.” 

“ That was before she knew I was about to de- 
scend on Burton,” teased Marian. She could now 
afford to jest over what had once been a heavy 
cross. 

“That’s not fair, Marian,” protested Ruth, 
good-humoredly. “ You know — ” 

“ We all know,” interrupted Betty, “ that the 
Seven Savage Maidens were mere blots on the 
landscape when compared to the Equitable Eight. ’ ’ 

“ Sing some other song, Ruth,” begged Jane. 
‘ ‘ I don’t think I like it even with the explanation.” 

Betty caught up her mandolin and swung into 


284: The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

a lively air just then very popular. They all sang 
with great spirit. For nearly an hour they lifted 
their voices in one cheerful song after another, 
hut at last Betty laid down her mandolin. 

“ I can think of only one more that we all know. 
I shan’t tell you what it is now. I’m saving it for 
the last.” Betty was silent for an instant. She 
was sitting on the top step of the veranda, and, as 
her eyes wandered from one to another of her 
friends, she was thinking of how inexpressibly 
dear to her they all were. 

“ Girls,” she said rather soberly, “ it has been 
good for us to be here. I wish that we could plan 
our future vacations so that we might be together 
for a little time, at least, every summer.” 

“ You mean that we could have a reunion? ” 
asked Anne eagerly. “I was thinking of that 
very thing, too. I’d love to have you visit me.” 

“ There’s no place like the Golden West for a 
bang-up reunion,” asserted Sarah positively. 

“ Colorado’s ever so much nicer than Nevada,” 
hinted Frances. “ Camp Fire Girls simply flour- 
ish there.” 

“ The Garniers are noted for their hospitality,” 
reminded Ruth. “ Marian is included as a Gar- 
nier. She’s one of the family, you know. That 


Good-Bye to Wanderer's Roost 285 

invitation is from both of us.” Ruth had long 
since determined that her home was in future to 
be Marian’s. 

“ Kentucky leads in hospitality,” boasted Jane. 
‘ ‘ It’s noted for its reunions.” 

“I’ll take you all on a sight-seeing tour with 
me,” was Emmy’s proposal. “ I never know from 
one summer to the next where I’m going to live. 
But wherever I go, you’re welcome to go with 
me.” 

“Don’t forget Wanderer’s Roost. The latch- 
string’s out from June until October.” This 
sweeping invitation was Betty’s, of course. 

“It looks as though the reunion was a sure 
thing,” Jane said, wagging her head. “We’ll 
have all next year to decide where to hold it. 
We’ve certainly had a glorious time up here, 
Betty, and we’ll each have a few beads to add to 
our string, when we get a chance to tell some bead 
distributor of our doughty deeds. There’s noth- 
ing like being Camp Fire Girls.” 

“Plain Jane, I agree with you.” Frances 
favored Jane with one of her famous wide 
smiles. “This particular group of Camp Fire 
Girls hasn’t done so badly. We’ve rescued a 
helpless kiddie from the clutches of an ogre and 


286 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

seen him march off with his own father and 
mother. We’ve become playwrights; stage man- 
agers and actors in the cause of the needy, and 
sent two old ladies to their home with more money 
in their pocketbooks than they had when they 
started for the Catskills. We ’ve snatched a lovely 
princess from the jaws of death, or at least from 
the dreadful fate of becoming a baldhead. We’ve 
opened the prison doors for the falsely accused, 
and proved that an Italian peddler can’t possibly 
be a Spanish kidnapper. We ’ve upheld the law and 
upbraided a constable. We’ve proved that the 
Van Winkle family was no myth, and we’ve worn 
out numerous pairs of shoes in strenuous hikes. 
So I really think we deserve some credit. ’ ’ 

Frances’ modest enumeration of golden deeds 
received the tribute of laughter, which her funny 
sayings always evoked. 

“ According to Frances we are in a; class by our- 
selves,” chuckled Sarah. “ You forgot to state 
that our Betty has also proven her right to a 
stage career. I am sure she deserves special 
mention.” 

Betty flushed with pleasure at this unexpected 
compliment. “ I’ll tell you a secret, girls. I saved 
it for to-night. Don’t think me outrageously con- 


Good-Bye to Wanderer's Roost 287 

ceited, but Mr. Terry says that I have real artistic 
ability. He has promised to have a talk with 
father and mother in the near future, and if he 
can win them over — well — when I finish my 
school work I am to have a place in his company.’ ’ 

“ With two poets, a prima donna, an actress, a 
composer, a debater, a welfare-expert and a gig- 
gler, we ought to set some small part of the world 
on fire. You can each pick out the coat that fits 
you,” ended Sarah, her inevitable chuckle proving 
her right to wear the giggler’s cloak. 

“ Whatever we are or hope to be, there is one 
coat that fits us,” averred Emmy. “It’s the 
coat of comradeship, and it was made to order for 
the Equitable Eight.” 

“Long may they wave!” exclaimed Ruth. 
“ Everybody, all together now — three cheers for 
the Equitable Eight.” 

The fervent huzzas brought Miss Wyndham to 
the veranda'. She had purposely left the girls to 
themselves on this last evening. As a chaperon 
she deserved to be decorated. 

Her appearance was the signal for a fresh three 
cheers, given in honor of the “ best comrade in the 
world,” as Ruth prettily put it. 

After bowing her acknowledgments, she said, 


288 The Camp Fire Girls at Lookout Pass 

“ I hate to be a kill- joy, but it’s after ten o’clock, 
my dears. You ought to go to bed if you expect 
to catch those early trains I have heard frequent 
mention of in the last twenty-four hours.” 

“One more song and we’ll subside.” Betty 
picked up the idle mandolin and strummed lightly 
a few bars of the song she had been saving. “ All 
ready, ’ ’ she said, smiling her affection at her com- 
panions. 

Upon the still air the tender strains of that 
plaintive heart throb, 

“ Should auld acquaintance be forgot 
And never brought to mind ” 
filled the night with lingering sweetness. The 
singers put untold meaning into the old song that 
is warranted never to die as long as earth holds 
a spot where friends may gather in the name of 
fellowship. 

1 6 For Auld Lang Syne, ’ ’ murmured Ruth softly, 
as the vocal plea for eternal friendship ended in 
a faint echo which the night wind carried to the 
sentinel mountains. 

And that was the watchword which the Equi- 
table Eight took to their hearts to cherish as they 
climbed the stairs for their last night’s sleep under 
the hospitable canopy of Wanderer’s Roost. 

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